- The three French suspects boarded the cruise ship in Marseille last week
- They were arrested last weekend when the ship docked in the port of Genoa
Three French men who allegedly raped a 19-year-old woman on board a cruise ship have been taken into custody in Italy after the ship entered port following the attack.
The suspects boarded the ship in Marseille – one of the ship’s six stops on its tour of the Balearic Islands and Tyrrhenian Sea – on Friday, days after the alleged victim climbed aboard in Civitavecchia, a port city just northwest of Rome.
She embarked on the cruise as part of a school trip and had spent several days on the ship with classmates before her three alleged attackers came aboard.
Hours after boarding the ship, the three perpetrators allegedly lured the young passenger to their cabin before forcing themselves on her in the locked room.
The traumatized girl later reported her ordeal to the ship’s captain, who in turn informed authorities before entering Genoa port this weekend.
The ship will tour the Western Mediterranean, the Tyrrhenian and Balearic Islands, stopping at various ports in Spain, France and Italy
Upon their arrival at the port, the ship was locked down and the passengers were not allowed to disembark, while Italian police arrested the three suspects, interviewed the victim and obtained security camera footage from the ship.
The suspects will be held in Genoa while investigations into the incident continue. It is not clear whether the victim also disembarked in Genoa.
The cruise ship has now continued its journey and will soon set sail for Ibiza, after arriving in the port of Palermo in Sicily earlier today.
The shocking incident comes just weeks after a British holidaymaker was raped on board another cruise ship in March, with police in Mallorca arresting a Kenyan man on board the ship.
The 27-year-old man was arrested when the ship docked in the island capital Palma from Naples, Italy, on March 15.
A female passenger, aged 33, from Britain claimed she was raped on the high seas.
A 27-year-old man was arrested on March 15 when a ship docked in Palma following a report from a British passenger who claimed she had been raped
The Kenyan man was not named but was described locally as an entertainer on the cruise ship.
According to local reports, the suspect and alleged victim had danced together before the alleged rape.
The man was later released on bail after an appearance in court. It was not immediately clear whether he would be allowed to leave Mallorca or have to surrender his passport.
Local reports said the detained man had refused to answer questions from a judge who tried to question him.
The British woman left the ship so she could be examined in a hospital make a statement to the police.
The ship conducted a similar tour of the western Mediterranean.