ZAGREB, May 20 (Hina) - The hijacking of the merchant ship Benty, with seven Croatian seamen aboard, which began on Sunday in Liberian waters, is over and all Croatians are well, Antonio Vegan of the Marin Consult company told Hina on
Tuesday.
ZAGREB, May 20 (Hina) - The hijacking of the merchant ship Benty,
with seven Croatian seamen aboard, which began on Sunday in
Liberian waters, is over and all Croatians are well, Antonio Vegan
of the Marin Consult company told Hina on Tuesday. #L#
Marin Consult mediates in the employment of Croatian seamen. Vegan
was in constant e-mail contact with the ship's captain, Josip
Alborghetti.
The ship has not sailed out of Liberia yet because it needs to be
brought back in order and repaired, according to the captain's e-
mails.
Dozens of Liberian soldiers hijacked the Benty off the Liberian
coast on Sunday morning, forcing the crew to dock in Harper harbour,
where some 1,000 refugees, mostly women and children, came on
board.
The soldiers demanded of the crew to transfer the refugees, who were
escaping from Liberian regions hit the hardest by a civil war, to
the relative safety in the capital of Monrovia.
According to captain Alborghetti's e-mails, delivered to Hina,
more than half the refugees had landed by 15.00 GMT, when the
soldiers started disembarking too.
Alborghetti said that everyone was okay, and stressed that Liberian
authorities were very grateful and kind. He said the ship was
devastated and the crew had been robbed.
A baby boy was born on the ship and named Benty.
Croatia's foreign ministry reported earlier that the Benty was
sailing under the Saint Vincent and Grenadines flag and was owned by
the Guinea-based Societe Navale Guinee BP 522.
(hina) ha