Somali pirates have kidnapped a British couple who went missing in the Indian Ocean four days ago in the middle of a round-the-world sailing trip.

Fears for the safety of Paul and Rachel Chandler, 58 and 55, from Tunbridge Wells had been mounting since the emergency beacon aboard their yacht Lynn Rival went off last week.

“We have captured two old British [people], a man and woman in the Indian Ocean. They were on a small boat that we have hijacked,” a pirate called Mohamed Shakir told The Times by phone from Haradheere in Somalia.

The pirate added that the two were “healthy and in our hands” but would not say where they would be taken. Ransom demands are likely to follow.

The Chandlers, who had returned to Britain last month to visit friends and family, left the Seychelles on Thursday and were heading for Tanzania via the Amirante Islands.

A Royal Navy frigate was among five international warships engaged in a search for the couple. HMS Cumberland was alerted when the Chandlers activated the yacht’s emergency radio beacon.

A sailors’ internet forum said that the distress signal was picked up at 0133 GMT on Friday when the vessel was 60 nautical miles (111km) from Victoria, the capital of the Seychelles.

A spokesman for the European Naval Force said the yacht may have been spotted on its way into Haradheere, a pirates' haven.

“An EU ship‘s helicopter has flown across a yacht about 200 miles from Haradheere. The yacht was seen just as light was fading. We could not read the name but it’s approximately in the right place,” John Harbour, Commander Royal Navy and spokesman for EU Naval Force Somalia said.

He added that the yacht was towing two skiffs like those used by pirates in the area.

A Somali pirate leader, who refused to be named, had earlier claimed that the Chandlers' yacht was attacked by two pirate skiffs. “Thirteen pirates on two speed boats snatched this small boat very far from the Somali coast,” he said.

The couple, who have no children, have been married for 25 years, and took early retirement to sail the world.

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