Seafarer swims to breach quarantine

PERTH: A crew member of a bulk carrier ship has been captured and charged after allegedly swimming ashore at a Western Australian port, an incident which Premier Mark McGowan labelled ‘‘unusual’’.

It is alleged the 37yearold Vietnamese national jumped into the water on Saturday, two days after the bulk carrier berthed at the Albany Port.

Shipping crew are not permitted on to WA land under the emergency management quarantine directions. The man was found by police shortly before 7pm on Saturday, at an Albany backpackers lodge, before being placed into quarantine and testing negative for Covid19.

‘‘This is an unusual case,’’ McGowan told reporters yesterday, as WA recorded no new virus cases inside or outside hotel quarantine.

‘‘The individual in question jumped off the ship into the water and swam ashore.

‘‘Hard to stop that.’’