Children taken from a ferry are resting while authorities try to determine if it is the vessel that sparked a hunt for a suspected child-slave ship in Africa's Gulf of Guinea.

A top British Government official has said that a ship that was believed to have left Benin with children destined for slavery did not contain any unaccompanied minors and had been confused with a second ship, whose current location was unknown.

Fears are growing for the welfare of more than 100 slave children on board a cargo ship in Africa's Gulf of Guinea.