Pirates could release seriously ill kidnap victim within a few days
Tyringham-born Rachel "suffering from palpitations"
Friends and family of Somali pirate victim Rachel Chandler are anxiously awaiting confirmation she will be freed at any moment - because her kidnappers are so worried about her failing health.
The well-known farmer's daughter and her 60-year-old husband Paul have gone through four months of hell since their yacht was seized by the notorious pirates off the coast of East Africa.
Churchgoers in Tyringham, just outside Newport Pagnell, have been praying for the release of the girl they knew as Rachel Collett, who spent the first 26 years of her life in the village and was a pupil at Filgrave School.
One said: "We just keep on praying – and keeping our fingers crossed. It would be so wonderful to know Rachel was safely home."
Married at Tyringham Church on Valentine's Day 1981, Mr and Mrs Chandler had never been apart until they were seized last October and held in makeshift tents in separate locations, where they were beaten and starved.
The kidnappers demanded a multi million dollar ransom, but after it became apparent the Chandlers could not pay, and the British government would not pay, the Somali government has finally stepped in to negotiate.
The Somali parliament's deputy speaker Mohamed Omar Dalha said: "Talks with the pirates have been going on day and night. We are appealing to them though their traditional and religious leaders... at last they are listening."
He said the government was "optimistic" the couple would be on their way home by the end of this week.
Mrs Chandler, looking thin and gaunt, told a Somali television station last week: "I am obviously very tormented and very, very lonely and worried."
The kidnappers were so worried about the couple's health they allowed a Somali doctor to examine them both.
Mrs Chandler is suffering from palpitations, "mental disorder" through anxiety, and, it is believed, scabies. Her husband is similarly frail and also has an eye infection that could leave him blind.
One friend said: "Rachel was always such a healthy looking girl and young woman... she looks almost unrecognisable now in the latest pictures.
"It is painful for everyone who knew her to think of her suffering so much. All we want is for her and Paul to be released – before it is too late."
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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