Yacht wife held by Habar-gidir Hawiye pirates 'is suffering from scabies'

A British woman who has been kidnapped with her husband by Somali pirates is believed to be suffering from scabies. Rachel Chandler, 56, has developed the itchy skin rash over her arms and legs and it is causing her to scratch incessantly. She has already lost a lot of weight and her mental state is said to be unstable.

Rachel Chandler has developed scabies five months after she and her husband were kidnapped by Somali piratesMrs Chandler was seen by a journalist in a temporary safe house where she was being held. She and husband Paul, 60, are being kept separately for security reasons, and both are moved to a different location every two days.Mohammed Omar Hussein, the editor of Somaliweyn Media Centre, a radio station based in the Somali capital Mogadishu, said his colleague Hassan Ibrahim Noor visited Mrs Chandler a week ago and reported what he had seen back to the station.Mr Hussein said: ‘He told us Rachel had scratchings on her arms and legs which looked like scabies. She was scratching a lot. She was being kept in a house and looked depressed. She kept on staring at the ground, sometimes looked up, and then stared back at the ground.’

Journalists are barred from seeing the couple, but Mr Noor was allowed to see Mrs Chandler as he was a native of Harardhere – the coastal region where the Chandlers are being kept – and was also from the same clan as the pirates.

The pirates have detained the Chandlers separately for security reasons

Intense negotiations were continuing last night between Somali government officials and the pirates to get the couple released.A senior Somali politician said he is optimistic they may be released ‘within days’.
The Foreign Office refused to comment on the health of the Chandlers, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mr Chandler, a retired quantity surveyor, and Mrs Chandler, an economist, were on a round-the-world trip on their 38ft yacht Lynn Rival when they were seized in October.dailymail.

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