SWAKOPMUND: Fifty-six crew members of the Motor Vessel (MV) Chamarel had to be evacuated to a nearby fishing vessel when their ship caught fire on Wednesday night.

The crew members were evacuated to the fishing vessel ‘Moni’ after one of the cabins in their vessel caught fire.

Six of the crew members sustained slight injuries.

The Namibian Police Force (NamPol)’s acting Crime Investigations Coordinator for the Erongo Region, Inspector George Xoagub told Nampa yesterday that a fire was detected at around 18h45 on Wednesday night on board the MV Chamarel, which was situated three kilometers offshore at Mile 68 and about 10 km outside the town of Henties Bay.

The fire, which originated from the left (port) side of the ship, worsened at around 19h56.

Crew members of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources research vessel, the Nathaniel Maxuilili, helped to extinguish the fire, which was finally put out at around 03h40 yesterday morning.

The Secretary-General of the National Youth Council (NYC), Mandela Kapere on Wednesday encouraged youth in the country to belong to either civic or political organisations.

Kapere made this call during a media conference held at the National Youth Service (NYS) head office to announce the outcome of a short messaging service (sms) survey launched on 27 July this year.

The survey was aimed at gathering the opinions and concerns of the youth regarding youth policy issues.

One-thousand six-hundred young people took part in the survey.

Citing the outcome of the survey, Kapere said 93 per cent of the youth indicated that they have been well-informed about HIV/AIDS and sexual reproductive health, while six per cent have not.

This indicated that youth health organisations and various other youth groups were making sure that such information reaches the youth.