Published 20:02 IST, February 17th 2020
Storm Dennis brings a vessel abandoned in 2018 to the Irish coast
A ship which was abandoned by its crew in 2018 was at sea until February 16 when it washed up on the coast of Ireland after strong currents of Storm Dennis.
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A 'ghost' ship which was abandoned by its crew in 2018 was at sea until February 16 when it washed up on the coast of Ireland after strong currents of Storm Dennis raged over the weekend. According to international reports, the ship named as MV Alta cargo ship is believed to be originated from either Tanzania or Panamanian was spotted in Ballycotton, County Cork.
The Irish coast guard has said that the ten-man crew was rescued from the ship which had been onboard the 77-metre freighter after it became disabled in October 2018. Even in September 2019, the Royal Navy's Ice Patrol Ship had spotted about the “abandoned Merchant vessel”.
Two days ago @hmsprotector discovered this apparently abandoned Merchant Vessel whilst mid-Atlantic. We closed the vessel to make contact and offer our assistance, but no one replied! Whilst investigations continue we’re unable to give you more detail on this strange event.🌊🚢🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/x29sB5IF06
— HMS Protector (@hmsprotector) September 2, 2019
Why was the ship abandoned?
Before spending nearly a year abandoned at the sea, the ship was on its way from Greece to Haiti when according to international reports it got into some trouble and drifted for at least 20 days. As the crew on board at the time of the incident radioed for help after a chronic shortage of food and water, a rescue mission was launched. The crew members were taken off the ship which was then about 2,220 kilometres off the coast of Bermuda and since then it began to drift in the eastern direction and now after facing Storm Dennis, the ship has now crashed in Ireland.
According to international reports, the Ballycotton RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager John Tattan had told an Irish media house that such an incident is “one in a million”. Tattan further expressed the uniqueness of the entire incident by mentioning that the ship came “all the way up from the African coast, west of the Spanish coast, west of the English coast and up to the Irish coast”. The operations manager also confessed that he had not seen “anything like that before”.
The Irish Coast Guard will now inspect the ship and check whether it poses a threat to the local environment. The ship was spotted in Ballycotton after the Meteorological Department issued a 'danger to life' warning ahead of the weekend and also predicted heavy rain and strong winds across most of the United Kingdom. According to international reports, the Storm Dennis has deepened by more than 24 millibars in 24 hours which increases the possibility of the storm bringing a 'weather bomb' along with it.
20:02 IST, February 17th 2020