Conditions worsen on refugee ship

Hundreds of Liberian refugees remain stranded on a ferry with conditions on board worsening as they await permission to disembark.

Following a dramatic rescue mission, the vessel is now in rough seas near the Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan.

UN officials have gone aboard and are negotiating with Ivorian authorities to allow the refugees to leave the ship.

An official with the UN refugee agency, Panos Moumtzis, described conditions on board as "appalling".

There were no working toilets and the mainly women and children on board were packed like sardines, said Mr Moumtzis, deputy UNHCR representative in Ivory Coast.

"Lots of children actually just lying down on the floor on top of their mothers and everybody looks very, very tired," he said.

"This rusty, small ferry boat where we are is really being shaken by the sea which is really quite rough."

'James Bond' operation

UN officials have described the rescue mission as a "James Bond-style operation".

The ship made a distress call on Tuesday after its engines failed 40km from land.

A French spotter plane was then sent to locate the Nigerian-flagged Dona Elvire ferry, followed by two rescue helicopters and a French naval vessel.

Commandoes on board the helicopters dropped rations and drinking water down ropes to the deck.

A French naval ship then towed the ferry - which had drifted 220km off the Ivorian coast - to the shore.

Heading home

More than 300,000 Liberians fled more than a decade-long civil war for other states in West Africa.

Thousands of Liberians fled their country's recent civil war

Hundreds of thousands also fled to seek safety in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

The fighting which claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people, ended last year.

Now most of the refugees want to go home, but the only transport many of them can afford is in badly maintained ferry boats.

Another Nigerian-registered ship carrying 265 Liberians was rescued in January by a Dutch naval vessel after running into engine difficulties.