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Kidnap couple's captors 'impatient'

The British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates said their captors were "losing patience" and they could be killed within a week.

Paul and Rachel Chandler were shown on Channel 4 News.

Mr Chandler said they were "unharmed and in reasonable physical health" but that the "kidnappers were losing patience".

He urged the Government to start negotiations over a ransom and said: "I have no doubt that they will not hesitate to kill us, perhaps between a week or so of now if there is no response."

Rachel Chandler said: "We are very concerned about the future. Our captors are very impatient."

The pair, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, were in the presence of armed men as they spoke, Channel 4 said. Mrs Chandler went on: "We are also feeling very much under threat now that these people themselves won't hesitate to take our lives."

The footage showed the couple speaking at gunpoint, the first time they have been seen on camera since they were kidnapped.

Channel 4 said that their family had agreed that the film should be broadcast. They said their captors had told them that a terrorist cell was looking for them and that they could "sleepwalk to a tragic end".

Mr Chandler said: "This is our 27th day in captivity. So far we have been provided with adequate food and water and facilities and so we are unharmed and in reasonable physical health. Mentally we are under great stress and threatened. Our kidnappers are losing patience, they are concerned that there has been no response at all to their demands for money.

"We ask the Government and the people of Britain and our families to do whatever you can to at least open negotiations with these people about money so that perhaps our lives can be bought back. We have been threatened that there is a terrorist gang at large in the country looking for us. We are also concerned that these people will lose patience and will not feed us and I have no doubt that they will not hesitate to kill us, perhaps within a week or so of now if there is no response. So please, somebody get in touch otherwise we just sleepwalk to a tragic end."

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