MOGADISHU, Somalia, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A British couple kidnapped by pirates while sailing off East Africa three months ago say they fear they could be killed within days unless a ransom is paid.
Paul Chandler, 59, a retired quantity surveyor, and his wife Rachel, 55, an economist, disappeared after heading from the Seychelles bound for Tanzania on their yacht, Lynn Rival, Oct. 23, The Times of London said.
In an interview with ITV News broadcast Thursday, Chandler said that he was "just existing in hope", adding: "I'm afraid that they will just kill us and abandon us in the desert here."
He said that the pirates had separated him from his wife, who told him in their last phone call that she was giving up, and he likened their conditions in solitary confinement to the treatment of a captive animal.
"We tried to stay together and they threw us to the ground and whipped us and beat Rachel with the rifle butts and I was dragged off and taken to a different location," he said.
"I was allowed to telephone her about 12 days ago. She said she was being tormented all the time and she said she was giving up.
"They've lost patience. They've set a deadline of three or four days. If they don't hear then they say they will let us die."
Rachel Chandler, who echoed her husband's fear that the pair could be killed within days, told the broadcaster: "Please, please find a way of helping us because it really is a very desperate situation here.
"They've just told me that if they don't get the money within four or five days they'll kill one of us."
She said her biggest hope was she would see her husband "at least once more before we die.
"It's hard not to feel ... well ... dying would actually be an easy way out."
