Vanuatu Post 2nd November 2006

[Skyrules]

Barred TV Crew think they scared P&O Cruises (Issue 1866)

Compiled by Len Garae - While the 21 suspects in connection to marijuana cultivation in Malekula are waiting to go before a court preliminary inquiry, four members of the Australian Channel Seven Television Crew have been confirmed kicked off the P&O Cruises ship in Port Vila after the Captain labeled them “terrorists” and then “drug dealers”. The crew boarded the ship in Australia on Wednesday last week to find out what is really happening on board the ship after a passenger, Dianne Brimble had died of an overdose of the date rape drug Fantasy during a 2002 cruise on the Pacific Sky, which at the time, was owned by P&O Cruises. The spokesperson said as the woman had died of drugs, they wanted to find out if that “level of activity (of doing drugs)” was still happening. The crew were asked to stop filming after two days and told to leave. “We assumed that they perhaps got scared of what we might find and their response to that was to disembark us in Port Vila”, she said. The spokesperson said they did not see anyone take drugs but that there was a lot of drinking going on and people got drunk. Asked if they had seen any evidence of sexual harassment she replied, “Yes, the young girl we had with us was touched inappropriately about the leg by a passenger who was very, very drunk and she felt uncomfortable and we left”. After the first two days she said the ship might have put extra security on duty to follow the crew everywhere as far as the door to their rooms. “They even followed us when we got off the boat to go to the island as we had not been here before and we thought they were overly suspicious”, he recalled. The crew filmed the ship wrapped up their story as it was just about to leave when they were told they would not board. The spokesperson said the following day when a “lady” went to the ship to pick up her passengers for a tour, the security mistook her for a member of the Channel Seven crew and harassed her and told her they were drug dealers. “That’s when we realized they took photographs of us onboard the P&O Cruises Ship for their own security information. “They have printed them out and have distributed them in a foreign country after labeling us terrorists and then drug dealers. I don’t know what the story is but it’s disgusting”, she said. Independent journalist and taxi driver Johnety Jerety interviewed the television crew from which we did our story.

 

Posted on 02 Nov 2006