A British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates last October said they were not being well treated and needed urgent help, according to an AFP reporter who met them in captivity.

"Please help us, these people are not treating us well," said Rachel Chandler, captured by pirates with her husband Paul as they sailed their yacht, the Lynn Rival, in the Indian Ocean on October 23.

They were brought ashore and have been held in separate locations in central Somalia.

Rachel Chandler made her plea to a surgeon who was allowed to briefly examine the pair on Thursday, accompanied by an AFP photographer, the first journalist to see the Chandlers since their capture.

The surgeon, Abdi Mohamed Helmi "Hangul", said she was in poor mental and physical health.

"She is sick, she is very anxious, she suffers from insomnia," Mr Hangul said.

"But I think she's mainly mentally unwell, it seems. She's very confused, she's always asking about her husband - 'Where's my husband, where's my husband? - and she seems completely disorientated," Mr Hangul added.

The pair are being held in separate locations in rugged areas between the coastal village of Elhur and the small town of Amara, further inland.

During the visit Mrs Chandler looked pale, tired and distraught and pleaded to be reunited with her husband.

"I'm old, I'm 56 and my husband is 60 years old. We need to be together because we have not much time left," she said.

She spoke to the doctor in the presence of the AFP photographer, the first journalist to see the hostages since their kidnapping, from a tent where she is being guarded by pirates armed with assault rifles.

Surrounded by trees, her tiny hideout consists of orange netting, tarpaulin and a few rugs.

For his part Paul Chandler appeared psychologically more robust than his wife but admitted the conditions of their separate detention were difficult and he also pleaded for help.