Captain escapes freighter mutiny

Officials in Cyprus say a British captain has been rescued from a cargo vessel after an apparent mutiny by its mainly-Syrian crew in a dispute over its ownership.

The captain James Wilkinson was taken off the sixteen-thousand-tonne ship, Blue Breeze, by a Cyprus police launch after the crew defied his orders to sail to Gibraltar and headed for Syria instead.

Shipping officials say the captain had instructions from a European bank to have the ship arrested in Gibraltar.

He sent a coded message requesting assistance after his orders were disobeyed.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service