Crew throws stowaways overboard

2009-10-23 20:13

Kinshasa - A Congolese man drowned and three others had to be rescued after they were thrown overboard by the crew of a ship on which they were clandestine passengers, DR Congo authorities said on Friday.

The Panamanian-flagged ship, Island of Luc, arrived on Monday at the river port of Matadi, but the crew lacked all the necessary documents to unload its cargo of rice, so they were asked to drop anchor clear of the port.

The four stowaways were thrown overboard as the boat made its way back downstream on the Congo River to the Atlantic, according to the UN's Radio Okapi and DR Congo officials.

"They were reportedly beaten up before being thrown into the water with an empty five-litre canister tied to each body to help them to float," the interior minister of the western Bas-Congo Province, David Kuku di Mayeye, told AFP.

"The Congolese naval force was able to save three of them, but we found yesterday (Thursday) the body of the fourth," Kuku di Mayeye said, adding that the crew of the Island of Luc consisted of Ukrainians and Filipinos.

The ship was subsequently blocked at Matadi port and the crew have been arrested, according to port authorities, who said a judicial enquiry has been opened into the affair.
 

- SAPA