MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean trawler forced back to port by mutineer

A Chilean flagged trawler underwent 38 hours of fear and uncertainty when one of the crew locked himself in the bridge threatening the captain and chief officer with knives demanding the vessel returned him to Punta Arenas.

The incident began last Tuesday when one of the 39 crewmembers of "Magallanes III" belonging to Pesca Chile, in an apparent desperate state and holding two knives ordered the captain and chief officer to sail back.

The vessel in the high seas since July first, was fishing hake 700 kilometres northeast of Punta Arenas in the South Pacific.

Although the mutineer ordered a communications blackout, somehow the Chilean Navy got word of what was happening and ordered three units to be ready for when the Magallanes III approached the Magellan Strait from the west, including a fast patrol vessel with a boarding team of twelve highly trained frogmen.

However as time went on the mutineer became less aggressive and the Navy desisted of using the boarding team as the trawler approached Punta Arenas.

On docking the crew was evacuated and the rebellious fisherman gave himself up and is currently jailed pending an investigation into the whole high seas incident.