Concern for the children reported to be on board has grown because of the condition of the vessel and the fear they may have run out of food and water, authorities said. She said she was especially concerned because the ship was initially bound for Gabon, normally a four-day voyage, and may not have enough supplies to last beyond that time. The concern was exacerbated by the announcement in Benin that the ship's captain had a criminal record for running slave ships. The search for the ship focused attention on the continuing abuse of child labor in the region. Officials say that each year, tens of thousands of children from poor, mostly rural families are sold to buyers who put them to work in coffee and cocoa plantations here in Ivory Coast and in Gabon.
Girls are sometimes used for domestic help or forced into prostitution, they say.
Humanitarian organizations said the trade in children has been constant, even during colonial times, but it has increased as the economic situation has grown worse in recent years in some West African countries. Punishment for involvement in the trade is notoriously lax in the region and only 20 countries on the African continent have ratified a treaty banning it. Authorities in Benin said they have issued international arrest warrants for three businessmen believed to be tied to trafficking in human beings in connection with the missing ship, including a man in Benin identified as Stanislas Abatan. But no one has been arrested, they said. Officials in Benin said the ship allegedly carrying child slaves may have made its way south to the coast of Equatorial Guinea, just off Cameroon and 500 miles southeast of Cotonou.