2:45am UK, Saturday November 14, 2009

Damien Pearse, Sky News Online

The crew of a Royal Navy vessel was forced to watch a British couple being kidnapped by pirates, it has been revealed.

The Chandlers’ Lynn Rival yacht was forced to sail towards Somalia

Military officials insisted the crew members could not have acted without endangering the lives of Paul Chandler, 59, and his wife, Rachel, 55.

The 75 merchant seamen and 25 Royal Navy sailors were aboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary replenishment tanker Wave Knight.

The Chandlers, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were seized in the early hours of October 23 when armed Somali pirates boarded their yacht, the Lynn Rival.

The yacht was heading from the Seychelles towards Tanzania.

The couple were forced to sail towards Somalia before being moved onto a container ship, the Kota Wajar, which was previously taken by the pirates.

It has now emerged that the Wave Knight, which was also carrying a helicopter, was within range as the events unfolded.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “Every effort was made by the Royal Navy and the international maritime fleet to locate the Lynn Rival.

“We did everything we could possibly do without further endangering the lives of Paul and Rachel Chandler.

“We do not comment on operational detail but RFA Wave Knight did very well under the circumstances.”

Sources said the Chandlers would have been transferred to the mother ship, the Kota Wajar, in a very crowded open boat alongside armed pirates.

They added the RFA vessel’s first responsibility was to ensure the Chandlers’ lives were not put at further risk.

Initial reports had suggested the couple’s yacht was found empty in open waters.

The couple are since thought to have been brought ashore.

Within days of their capture, pirates issued a seven million-dollar (£4.2 million) ransom demand.

After seeing the ransom report, the Foreign Office said the Government would not make any “substantive concessions to hostage-takers, and that includes the payment of ransom”.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are monitoring the situation closely.”