Holidaying couple feared hijacked off Seychelles
Rescuers were today searching for a British couple feared to have been hijacked by pirates off the east coast of Africa.
Paul and Rachel Chandler were heading for Tanzania from the Seychelles in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was received, and they have not been heard from since.
Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) was activated at 11pm on October 23.
A spokesman said: “The Seychelles authorities are carrying out a search and rescue operation but have found nothing so far.”
It is understood that there had been pirate activity in the area earlier in the day.
The British coastguard spokesman said: “They had left the Seychelles on October 22 and were going on a 150 nautical-mile passage south-west to the Amirante Islands, en route to Tanzania.
“It would appear from the activation of the EPIRB that something has happened. We were aware that the EPIRB had gone off, talked to the Seychelles, asked if they were aware of it, they were, and have been searching, by air and sea.”
A spokesman for the coastguard in the Seychelles said: “They had been headed for Tanzania but we haven’t heard from them. We don’t have any information regarding them.
“We did have a distress signal from them on October 23. There have been reports that they were hijacked by pirates but no one can prove that. We don’t know what has happened and cannot speculate.
“Our ship is in the area and we are still keeping a look-out. We don’t know whether they were continuing with their route. They don’t have a satellite phone so we cannot get hold of them.”
