Benin officials said they still needed to speak to the passengers and crew before they could explain the confusion about the suspected slaves' whereabouts. Moussa said the Etireno left the commercial capital, Cotonou, secretly more than a week ago. It was now returning with an unknown number of passengers but no unaccompanied children refused entry to Gabon because they did not have the necessary travel documents, she said. A second ship arrived in Gabon about the same time with about 250 passengers on board many of them young victims of child traffickers she said. Moussa insisted that ship had nothing to do with Benin.
Girls often end up as domestic workers or prostitutes.
He said there were concerns that the crew might throw the children overboard. It wasn't clear how Benin's announcement that the unidentified vessel was the slave ship would affect the search. E-mail this story to a friend. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the expressed written consent of the Lexington Herald-Leader is prohibited.