African stowaways take wrong turn

Frauke Jensen
BBC, Windhoek

Nine West African stowaways have ended up in Namibia after boarding the wrong ship, immigration officials say.

The five men and four women were trying to get to Europe from Gabon, but instead landed on a beach some 2,500 km in the wrong direction.

They were discovered by the Chinese crew and cast adrift on rafts made of steel drums, with just a small bottle of water and a bag of uncooked rice.

After spending three days at sea, they were exhausted but have now recovered.

They were discovered by marine researchers who were fishing in Meob Bay, 200km south of Namibia's main harbour Walvis Bay.

They had nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

The nine say they come from Cameroon, Nigeria and Gabon but immigration official Steven Mulundu says they had no documentation so their stories cannot be verified.

Instead of greener pastures in Europe, the stowaways are now awaiting an immigration tribunal in arid, sandy Namibia.

A group of people apparently put out to sea on a third raft is still missing.