Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951)Chapter IX : Offences, Penal Provisions and Legal Procedure333. Inquiry into cause of death on board ship |
| (1) | If any person dies on board any foreign-going South African ship the proper officer at the port where the crew of the ship is discharged, or the proper officer at any earlier port of call in the Republic, shall, on the arrival of the ship at that port, inquire into the cause of the death, and shall make in the official log-book an endorsement to the effect, either that the statement of the cause of death in the book is in his opinion true, or the contrary, according to the result of the inquiry. |
[Section 333(1) substituted by section 55 of Act No. 40 of 1963]
| (2) | If in the course of an inquiry it appears to the proper officer that a death has been caused on board the ship by violence or other improper means, he shall either report the matter to the Authority, or if the emergency of the case so requires, take immediate steps for bringing the offender or offenders to justice. |