A death on board, rumours of a mutiny, and allegations of sexual abuse led the German Navy to recall to port Thursday the training ship Gorch Fock.
A naval spokesman in Berlin said the vessel, now sailing without any cadets on board, was told to return to its last port of call, the southern Argentine town of Ushuaia, so investigators could board it. The ship moored around 1600 GMT in the bay before Ushuaia, about 1 kilometer from port.
A woman cadet fell from a yard to her death on the deck in November in northeastern Brazil, triggering the reported conflict.
Cadets complained to an armed-forces ombudsman that they were forced to clamber up the rigging into the masts and along the yardarms while the heaving ship was under sail, even if they were terrified of heights.
There were further allegations that officers sexually abused one trainee.
Later Thursday, Captain Mario Davis, in charge of the naval region around Ushuaia, was to host representatives of the German Embassy, in order to be informed of the official reasons for the ship's return to the town two days after having left.
The Defence Ministry ordered an entire intake of officer cadets back to Germany over discord between the captain and crew of the Gorch Fock. |
