Portuguese authorities are said to be “worried” today by the news that two young Syrian men have jumped ship in Setúbal and ‘disappeared’ destination unknown.
The 20-year-olds were apparently last seen this morning at around 7am with rucksacks on their backs, leaving the ports area.
Neither had been given permission to leave either their ship – a cargo vessel by the name of Nagham sailing under a Panamanian flag – nor were they authorised to leave the ports area.
Said a reporter for CMTV, they were both issued ‘yellow cards’ by borders agency SEF when their ship docked. This is SEF policy, and basically gives ships’ crew permission to circulate the immediate ports area – but that is as far as it goes. Yellow cards are not travel documents, and it appears that the young men left their passports behind them.
Whether this means they have false papers that they hope to travel on is what is very possibly worrying the authorities.
According to CMTV, the men are Walid Jenad and Bashar Helly.
For the time being, no photographs have been released.
According to Marine Traffic online tracker, the Nagham left the deep-water commercial port of Jorf Lasfar, off the coast of Morocco, on October 28 .
UPDATE
Both men have been “captured” by SEF at Lisbon’s Gare do Oriente railway station.
Say reports, it is not yet clear whether their flight was an “ill considered act” or “something planned”.
The Nagham is due to leave Setúbal port on Saturday.
