After a brief stopover in Banjul, a small Dutch vessel bound for Congo has gone missing. Since October 24th, the vessel’s signal has been lost. The circumstances surrounding the disappearance are still unknown, but the families of the sailors in Herlingen, Netherlands, are concerned.

It’s been three weeks since the ‘Association des Femmes Kimbanguistes’ ship, which was sailing off the west coast of Africa, vanished from radar. It was traveling from the Netherlands to Congo.

The vessel had three crew members on board, including two men from Harlingen, one of whom was the captain. Henk Visser (68), the captain, disembarked in The Gambia after becoming ill.

Corrie Sailmaker of Harlingen and Peter van der Molen of Zoutkamp, the other men on board, have continued the journey together. Nothing had been heard of them since October 24th. The ship’s last known location was near Nigeria, about 3,000 kilometers from The Gambia.

Bennie Zeilmaker, whose brother is on board, says the crew’s relatives are now in disarray at home. “It’s a small boat sailing in a large ocean.” Helicopters are now searching for the ship, according to Zeilmaker.

While it is unclear how contact with the ship was lost, Visser’s wife stated that “there was still enough fuel on board,” adding that “the satellite phone wasn’t empty either.”

The missing boat measures 20 meters in length and 4 meters in width. The ship is nearly 70 years old and was originally from Zoutkamp. It was recently refurbished with a new engine and sold to a Congolese church, after which its name was changed to ‘Hope in Trust,’ with ‘AFKI’ standing for ‘Association des Femmes Kimbanguistes,’ the group of Kimbangu women who acquired the boat.