Somali pirates who kidnapped a British couple from their yacht last week have warned against any effort to rescue them, saying they would "burn their bones" should such an attempt be made.
The couple and the pirates had both been in touch with a number of media outlets recently.
While the couple voiced concerns about their safety and spoke of their ordeal, the pirates made ransom demands in their phone interviews.
Paul and Rachel Chandler were sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania in the Indian Ocean on their 11.6-metre boat called Lynn Rival when they were kidnapped. A distress signal was sent out on October 23.
The pirates forced the pair to sail towards Somalia after their boat was captured.
The British navy found their empty yacht on Thursday and it is believed the couple were taken to the pirate stronghold of Harardhere, a coastal town which lies within Somali borders.
Among talks that the pirates have had with the media, one included a call to a Spanish television station that was monitored by a EU-led warship, in which Mohammed Hussein, a pirate, threatened to "burn their bones".
"We are telling Britain that any bullet of our friends on the yacht will be big cries for the families of the two old people we held," said Mr Hussein in broken English.
"We warn them any attack on us, this is a good advice for them, otherwise they will burn their two people's bones," he added.
Another pirate, Shamun Indhobur, also warned through a news agency that attempts to rescue the couple or attack another boat where 36 crew members of a Spanish fishing boat have been held for the past month would have consequences.
"If one is attacked, we will punish from the other vessel. We ask their families to contact us and pay what we ask for."
The couple were reportedly being taken to that other vessel, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, yet another pirate, Ahmed Hassan, speaking from the Somali town of Harardhere, said the couple were in good health and were being treated well and warned once again against any military rescue effort.
He did not disclose the amount of the ransom being discussed among the pirates. But according to the BBC, the demand was likely to be made late yesterday.
Mr Chandler spoke on Thursday about the hijacking in a mobile phone call to ITV News, a British broadcasting station. He said he was speaking from the captain's cabin of a Singaporean container ship where he and his wife were being held, about 1.6km off the Somali coast.
"I was asleep and the men with guns came aboard," he said. "They took everything of value on the boat."
The call ended before he could reply to a question about their treatment at the hands of the kidnappers.
However, in another call to the BBC's Somali service, he said the couple were "well and being looked after OK".
He added they were being fed, and "food is OK at the moment".
Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for 18 years, became the world's top piracy hotspot last year.
@Email:sbhattacharya@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Bloomberg and Associated Press
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
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Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
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Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
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Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
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The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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