Ukrainian stowaway jumps ship (12/29/85)

Ukrainian stowaway jumps ship

PARIS - A 30-year-old Ukrainian stowaway who spent 10 days in a wooden crate without food or water in a Soviet grain ship before swimming to French soil when the ship docked off Rouen, is seeking political asylum.

According to the Associated Press, French government sources confirmed that the man jumped from the Soviet ship Ivan Pokrovski. He was questioned by Rouen police last Friday.

In that interview, the man said he was raised by a Ukrainian anti-Communist family in western Ukraine.

Speaking in broken English, the man said it was "a dream to come to the West." Eventually he hopes to immigrate to the United States, Canada or Australia, he said.

The man disguised himself on December 9 as a dock worker in the Lithuanian port of Claipeda. A friend slipped him onto the ship and be hid in a crate made for machine parts, huddled in a sleeping bag.

Asked to be identified only as Georg T. in order to protect his family in Ukraine he said, "I could not stand, I just could lean." He decided not to eat or drink during the trip because otherwise he would have had to go to the toilet, which was impossible in the crate.

He said he also brought with him a strong poison. "If nobody find me in the ship I will be free, and if somebody find me I'll eat this poison and right away I'll be dead," he said.

"I knew that if I would be uncovered, the Russian KGB can kill me but not right away, and it will be very painful. And also my family can get in trouble."

On December 19, Georg T.'s friend came to tell him that they were docked in Rouen. He said he walked off the deck, as few guards were around, climbed down a line into the water and swam to shore.

"I had not so much power and the water was very cold. Now it's winter time. I swim about 200 or 300 meters (220 to 330 yards)," he said. He added he was once a competitive swimmer and also taught children to swim.

"I think the worst problem I had was when I must come to the beach and the wall was very high and the water was very cold. I though this is my finish. I come in a free country and I finish in the water," he said.

"Right now I feel like everything is like a dream and I can't believe right now that I am free," he said.

George T., reported the Associated Press, had obtained French currency before defecting and is staying at a hotel in Rouen at his own expense.