Somali pirates say holding British couple

By Abdi Guled

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates said on Tuesday they had seized a yacht in the Indian Ocean with a British couple aboard and were taking the vessel to the Horn of Africa nation.

"The British couple are in our hands now. We captured them as they were touring in the Indian Ocean," a pirate called Hassan told Reuters. He said the two captives were healthy and ransom demands would follow.

The Seychelles coastguard said it dispatched aircraft to search for the yacht after receiving a distress signal on Friday and now foreign naval ships and planes fighting piracy in the Indian Ocean had joined the search.

"We have not traced the yacht yet," Lieutenant Colonel Michael Rosette, who is in charge of the Seychelles coastguard, told a news conference. "The yacht had only two passengers on board when it left the Seychelles."

The Britons, Paul and Rachel Chandler, both in their fifties, left the Seychelles aboard their 38-foot yacht, Lynn Rival, on October 22 and were believed to he sailing towards the east African coast.

Maritime security groups warned in May of a surge in the number of pirate "mother ships" operating in the Seychelles archipelago's expansive territorial waters.

The U.S. military said in August it would be deploying unmanned reconnaissance aircraft above the Seychelles to bolster anti-piracy efforts.

"We are currently in touch with the family in the UK and the Seychelles coastguard who continues to monitor the situation and has conducted a search of the area," Matthew Forbes, British High Commissioner to the Seychelles, told Reuters.