Chandlers 'happy to be alive'

Rachel Chandler has said she and her husband Paul are "happy to be alive" after they were freed by their Somali kidnappers.

The couple, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, were handed over to local officials in Adado after a ransom was handed over to their kidnappers, ending a 388-day ordeal.

The pair were flown into Nairobi, Kenya, ahead of their transfer to the British High Commission.

At the couple's first press conference in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Mrs Chandler said: "We're feeling wonderfully happy. Happy to be alive, happy to be free, happy to be here, and desperate to see our family and friends."

The couple had been sailing around the world on their yacht, the Lynn Rival, for several years when they left the Seychelles for Tanzania on October 22. Their route took them near Somali waters notorious for pirate attacks on ships and smaller boats.

After their seizure, the pirates demanded a $7 million ransom demand, but that figure is thought to have dropped towards the $1 million mark.

The Chandlers went on to make a series of appeals through television interviews that were carefully controlled by the pirates. In November last year they appeared on Channel 4 News to say their captors were "losing patience" and that they could be killed within a week.