TERRY HUTSON
THE MASTER of the bulker Krissa, Captain Lin Cheng Haun, has been charged with contravening Section 174 of the Merchant Shipping Act and given a summons to pay a R40 000 fine or appear in court and face a possible prison sentence.
Cheng is accused of having set four Congolese stowaways adrift in an unmarked inflatable raft as his ship rounded the Cape coast last week.
Police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo said that the Krissa had docked in Durban last week, giving South African authorities the jurisdiction to serve the master with a summons. Naidoo said the police had considered charging the master with attempted murder, but decided on the lesser charge. It would have been difficult to prove attempted murder as Captain Cheng claimed that he had provided food and water on the raft.
According to the Merchant Shipping Act, any person on board a ship may not endanger the life or cause injury to any person belonging to or on board the ship.
The four Congolese, who hid on board the ship in Matadi to avoid the civil war in the DRC, spent two days adrift in the liferaft before being rescued by a Cape Town yacht about 8km off Cape Point. They were taken to Hout Bay and hospitalised for observation. They have been taken to Pollsmoor Prison while their application for political asylum is considered.
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