**The crew of a Royal Navy vessel watched as a British couple were taken hostage by Somali pirates, Whitehall officials have confirmed.**Paul and Rachel Chandler, aged 59 and 55, from Kent, were ordered off their yacht by gunmen in the Indian Ocean in the early hours of 23 October.
It has now emerged that a Navy crew witnessed the kidnap, but did not act for fear of getting the couple killed.
The Chandlers had been travelling to Tanzania from the Seychelles.
Their yacht, the Lynn Rival, was later found in international waters after a multi-national search.
In a phone call on 29 October, the couple, from Tunbridge Wells, said they were first moved from their yacht to a container ship, the Kota Wajar, which had also been seized by the pirates.
It is thought they were then moved to another ship anchored off the eastern coast of Somalia before being taken to the mainland.
The pirates have issued a $7 million (£4.3 million) ransom demand but the British government has insisted it will not make any ransom payment.