Somali pirates demanded a $7 million ransom last night for the kidnapped British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler.

It was the first time that a figure had been mentioned since Mr and Mrs Chandler were captured on board their yacht off the Seychelles a week ago.

A spokesman for the pirates said that the money was only a “little amount” and would compensate for the seizures made by international anti-piracy patrols.

The sum is likely to be far beyond the resources of the family of Mr and Mrs Chandler, retired professionals from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, but may signal the opening of negotiations, which could last many months.

Leah Mickleborough, the couple’s niece, said that the family was looking into the demand.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are aware of that report. The Government isn’t going to make any substantive concessions to hostage-takers, and that includes the payment of ransom.”

Earlier yesterday, Mrs Chandler broke down in tears as she spoke to her brother over the telephone, telling him: “Please don’t worry about us, we’re managing.”

In a ransom call to the BBC, a Somali pirate said: “They have been captured by our brothers who patrol the coast. We have been informed about their presence in the area, where bandits operate. If they do not harm us, we will not harm them, we only need a little amount of $7 million dollars.” Challenged on the size of the sum, the pirate replied: “Nato operations have had a lot of negative impact here — they have destroyed a lot of equipment belonging to the poor local fishermen. They arrest fishermen and destroy their equipment, in defiance of our local administrations.

“They illegally transfer the fishermen to their own prisons, and prisons of other foreign countries, so when you consider the damage and all the people affected, we say the amount is not big.”

Mr Chandler, 59, a quantity surveyor, and his wife, 55, an economist, took early retirement three years ago to devote themselves to sailing their 38ft yacht, the Lynn Rival.

On Thursday, October 22 they set off from the Seychelles, heading towards Tanzania and are thought to have been taken by pirates the next day. Nato and EU task forces confirmed on Thursday that the Lynn Rival had been abandoned off Somalia.

Mr and Mrs Chandler are thought to been held on a hijacked container ship, the Kota Wajar, then in the pirate haven of Haradhere. A pirate identified only as Abdinor said yesterday that the Chandlers would be moved back to a ship with other hostages.

Speaking to her brother, Stephen Collett, yesterday, Mrs Chandler had said that she was not able to say where the couple were now being held. She said that she and her husband were safe and their captors “very hospitable” people. “Physically, we’re fine,” she said.

During the call, Mr Collett appealed to the pirates to release the couple: “My sister and her husband are blameless tourists and if you release them it would show your compassionate nature and it would be positive to everyone. Thank you.”

The Foreign Office has assigned a team to help with kidnap negotiations, composed of “a range of experts”, a spokesman said. Gordon Brown has called for the couple’s release.

The Somali Prime Minister, Omar Sharmarke, is also involved in negotiations, although his transitional government exercises no power over the pirate areas. Mr Sharmarke said: “We are trying to explain that this couple can offer no commercial reward and that their boat is all they have. We are asking them to make a gesture of goodwill and to release Paul and Rachel Chandler. I must reiterate that we are doing what we can for all the hostages and all the hostage situations must be resolved peacefully.

“The pirates do not have any history of harming their hostages and we are determined that this, at least, will not change.”

In the past two years Somali pirates have hijacked more than 100 ships in the region, mainly cargo vessels with insurers ultimately willing to pay ransoms. Millions of dollars have been paid this year, including $3.5 million for a Ukrainian ship laden with Russian tanks and $3 million for the supertanker Sirius Star.

Recently, however, pirates have increased their range — the Lynn Rival was captured hundreds of miles from the Somali coast — and seized more vulnerable targets such as private yachts.

In April an attempt by French forces to rescue a couple and their young child on board a captured yacht ended with commandos shooting dead the boy’s father as well as two pirates. Somali pirates are thought to hold about 200 crew and nine ships.

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