An anti-piracy maritime group has insisted it should be allowed to negotiate a payment for the release of two British hostages before their captors lose patience.

Paul and Rachel Chandler, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania more than three months ago.

A new video released by the pirates shows the couple making a desperate appeal for the Government to intervene in their plight.

The Foreign Office has reiterated its stance that it will not pay a ransom for the couple.

But chairman of the Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre, Nick Davis, an experienced pirate negotiator, said he could not understand why he was not being allowed to secure their release.

He said: "People are forgetting the key issue. Paul and Rachel have not got a clue what's going on. They are sat there in a hell hole wondering why people aren't helping them.

"The door is open for them to be released. Somebody needs to pick up the gauntlet and run with it."

Copyright © Press Association 2010

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