Charles Tjatindi
15 May 2008
Walvis Bay — Police in the Erongo region have mounted a search for a Togolese national who has been reported missing after he mysteriously disappeared from a fishing vessel.
Hator Kokouvi Gbebadah-Mensah, an engineer employed by Pescalamar Fishing is said to have disappeared from on board the La Mar fishing vessel two weeks ago, raising fears that he might have fallen overboard and drowned. The vessel from which Mensah went missing was double banked on the outside to the vessel "Coasta San Miquel". Both are long liners.
According to earlier media reports, Mensah was last seen on the fishing vessel with two of his engineer colleagues. He is said to have remained awake on guard duty while his colleagues went to sleep. They, however, became concerned when they did not find Mensah at his post when they woke up.
When he did not return to the vessel the next day, they notified the vessel owner.
A missing person report has since been filed with the Walvis Bay police station.
By late yesterday afternoon, Mensah was still missing. His employers are worried that something bad might have happened to him, as all his belongings were left behind on the vessel. The employers also confirmed to the media that Mensah is due to return home in the next few days, as his stay in Namibia would have expired by then.
"We are very worried. He wouldn't just go anywhere without his documents, and time is running out for him here in Namibia. We just don't know what to do anymore," the fishing company owner Margie Melani told the media.
According to her, Mensah hardly knows anyone else in Namibia other than his colleagues at work.
"It is really strange that he would just walk off as he knows nobody else (other) than us and a few guys that work on the boat," Melani noted.
Anyone who has information on Mensah's whereabouts should contact the Walvis Bay Police station on (064) 219 001.
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