Crew and cargo saved as ship sinks off Namibia

Ray Smuts THIRTY-FIVE crew and the fruit of their labour - gems from the ocean bed - were saved after the diamond ship Shelf Explorer sank off the Namibian coast on Thursday night. The Cape Town-based, Belize-registered, vessel under charter to the privately-owned Gemfarm Investments, was working a mining concession from Namdeb (the Namibian De Beers) 70 nautical miles south of Luderitz when it started flooding and sank in 50m of water. The crew of mixed nationality - South African, Namibian, Cuban and Filipino - were taken aboard the Lady S, a vessel working nearby and brought to Luderitz. A spokesman for the owners said at the weekend that the cause of the sinking was unknown and that the question of salvage had not been resolved.