Kenyan sailors survive tsunami
2005-01-06 12:04
Nairobi - Five African sailors whose cargo ship was swamped by the Asian tsunami have arrived in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa after being saved over the weekend by the United States navy off the coast of Somalia, Kenyan shipping authorities said on Thursday.
Kenya Seafearers Assistance Programme official Andrew Mwangura said: "The five men, four Kenyans and a Tanzanian arrived late yesterday aboard a Kenyan Navy's Madaraka vessel that went to pick them from the USS Hue City ship, which had saved them."
He said two of their colleagues, the ship's German captain and a Tanzanian were still missing.
Mwangura said: "They said their vessel sank after being slammed by the tsumani waves on December 26, and they floated on the seas using life-saving equipment until the US navy ship saved them last weekend."
The sailors were aboard the Portuguese-registered Global Island cargo ship, which left Mombasa on December 25 heading to the Gulf emirate of Dubai for repairs.
US warships are stationed in Djibouti, at the southern end of the Red Sea and across from the Arabian Peninsula in one of the world's most unstable regions, as part of a US-led campaign against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and other terrorist suspects.
- AFP