ACCRA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Nineteen Ghanaian stowaways, aged between 15 and 35, arrived in Accra on Monday after being deported from South Africa.

Six South African security officers escorted the stowaways on the journey to Ghana from the Indian Ocean port of Durban where they had been taken off the vessel MV Diana.

Most were high school dropouts or soccer players trying to escape poverty and unemployment in their homeland.

One of the group, 35-year-old welder John Baidoo, told reporters he boarded the ship in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on November 2 ``to seek greener pastures in Europe'' not knowing the vessel was bound for Bangkok in the Far East.

He had been unaware 17 other stowaways were already on board, hiding among a cargo of tropical timber.

Ghanaian police detained the 19 for questioning and possible prosecution.