The crew of a UK military ship watched as a British couple were taken hostage by Somali pirates but were ordered not to open fire, it has emerged.

一艘英国军用船舶上的船员眼看着一对英国夫妇被索马里海盗掳走做人质，但是却被下令禁止向海盗开火。

Pirates boarded the Chandlers' yacht, the Lynn Rival, while they slept

The RFA Wave Knight¹ did not act for fear of（唯恐） endangering the couple's lives, the Ministry² of Defence (MoD) said.

Paul and Rachel Chandler, aged³ 59 and 55, from Kent, were ordered off their yacht（游艇，快艇） by gunmen in the Indian Ocean in the early hours of 23 October.

The Chandlers had been travelling to Tanzania（坦桑尼亚） from the Seychelles（塞舌尔群岛）.

Details of the Navy operation were leaked to the press by an anonymous⁴ crew member of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary⁵ ship.

The crew member revealed that the RFA Wave Knight had come within just 50ft (15m) of the couple's yacht, the Lynn Rival, at one point（一度）.

A MoD spokesman said: "Every effort was made by the Royal Navy and the international maritime⁶ fleet（海上商船队） to locate the Lynn Rival.

"We did everything we could possibly do without further endangering the lives of Paul and Rachel Chandler.

"We do not comment on operational detail but RFA Wave Knight did very well under the circumstances."

The replenishment⁷（补充，补给） tanker⁸ was carrying 75 merchant seamen⁹ and 25 Royal Navy sailors, as well as a helicopter, at the time of the incident.

An official account of the kidnap released last month said only that a Royal Navy vessel¹⁰ had found the couple's yacht empty, without disclosing that the couple were within sight at the time.

In a phone call on 29 October, the couple, from Tunbridge Wells, said they were initially¹¹ 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（停泊在……之外） the eastern coast of Somalia before being taken to the mainland.

The pirates have issued a $7 million (£4.3 million) ransom¹² demand but the British government has insisted it will not make any ransom payment.