Stowaways Die After Being Tossed Into the Ocean

The crew of the Bahamas registered ship "M/V African Kalahari" threw seven stowaways into the sea near Port of Durban, South Africa.

Four Ukrainian crewmembers, including the shipmaster, have been arrested in South Africa for throwing seven stowaways into the ocean, rather than bringing them back to port, as required by international conventions. The crew was arraigned in a South African court, after two of the Kenyan men died.

Five survived the ordeal and reported the incident. The ship's last port of call was the Port of Mombassa, where it offloaded fertilizer and the stowaways got onboard the vessel. There have other reported incidents of ship's crews throwing stowaways overboard to avoid the cost of taking them back home. If evidence is found to implicate the captain in ordering the stowaways to be thrown overboard, he will face murder charges.

Since 1983, nineteen Kenyan stowaways have drowned in mysterious circumstances, and, in that year (1983), 11 Kenyans drowned in the shark-infested waters off Somali after being thrown overboard the Greek cargo ship "MV Garifalia."

International regulations required shipmaster to repatriate stowaways to the country of origin or to the port where they boarded the vessel. Ship owners must meet the cost of repatriation. The majority of African ports have been blacklisted as conduits for stowaways.