Ship hit the shore after drifting more than a year

A cargo ship that, for more than a year, drifted between the American, African and European continents hit the coast in a fishing village in Ireland during the Dennis storm.

The 77-meter “MV Alta” had been hijacked in September 2018 from a port in Guyana, South America, at a time when its crew had already been rescued and sent to Puerto Rico, due to a breakdown on the vessel.

According to the British newspaper “The Guardian”, the “MV Alta” was built in 1976, had a Tanzanian flag and, after having changed ownership in 2017, was sailing between Greece and Haiti when it broke down 2220 kilometers southeast of the islands Caribbean islands of Bermuda. After ten crew members withdrew from the United States Coast Guard, the boat was towed to Guyana, where it disappeared shortly after.

Only almost a year later, in August last year, he was spotted again, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, by a British Royal Navy patrol ship, apparently unmanned. He then drifted until he hit the shore on Sunday in Ballycotton, Cork, in southwest Ireland.

According to the Cork County Council, a group of environmental scientists visited the site on Monday and saw no signs of pollution. The vessel will now be subject to a more detailed inspection on board, to assess “any risks related to fuel, other dangerous substances and other pollution originating from the ship”.

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