Dominique Schwartz reported this story on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 12:50:00

ELEANOR HALL: Fiji Police have asked Interpol to help them unravel the mystery surrounding what appears to be the brutal murder of four men at sea.



New Zealand correspondent Dominique Schwartz has more.



DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: The 10 minute video is graphic and brutal.



It shows at least four men in the water clinging to debris or a makeshift raft. They're surrounded by what appear to be several fishing boats.



Shots are fired from one of the ships at the men. They try to duck the gunfire, but are systematically killed.



Interpreters for Television New Zealand identified Taiwanese, Thai and Vietnamese voices on the video which shows the slayings.



One man says, "If you see anyone, just kill. Look ahead there: one and two."



Fiji Police say there is nothing to identify the time or place of the incident or the identity of the victims.



It's asked Interpol and police in neighbouring Pacific countries to help verify the video and establish the facts.



The president of the Fiji Tuna Boat Owners Association, Graham Southwick, says the video highlights the violence that crew members too often face at sea.



GRAHAM SOUTHWICK: This particular type of incident of being shot in the water and all that stuff is, you know, extremely unusual, but conflicts and fights and murders on the high seas on fishing boats is relatively common.



In the Pacific, there'd probably be half a dozen a year at least, but usually it's the result of some sort of a conflict or fight or something on the boat, and the report usually comes back that either he fell over the side or whatever and then there's nothing much anybody can do very much about it.



If they die of natural causes, they're usually stuck in the freezer and brought back in at some stage of the game, but this'd be extremely rare I'd say, this deliberate slaughter of people that got off the boat.



DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Do you have any idea what might have caused something like that?



GRAHAM SOUTHWICK: There's obviously a bad situation that's developed there and, on the face of it, it looks like the Fijian crew, if they are indeed Fijian, attempted to leave the ship because they've made some sort of a raft or something to get away from the ship.



And it's probably as a result of an argument or something and they obviously felt threatened or something and tried to get away from the ship but got run down and then gunned down.



What's of interest to us, or a bit curious, is why there are so many boats involved in this incident, because these boats sort of fish in isolation and fish by themselves, and, to have three boats all in proximity, all in this thing going on, there's really something strange going on there.



DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Graham Southwick says authorities have the call-sign and details of at least one of the ships and will be working to identify crew members who could shed light on this gruesome maritime mystery.



For The World Today, this is Dominique Schwartz in Auckland.