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"Ghost-ship" from Across the Atlantic Washes up on Cork Coast. 

admin admin • Feb 16, 2020

A rare sight...a vessel with no crew! According to the Irish Coastguard and the RNLI, that is exactly what was discovered off the Cork coast today. At 77 m, the M.V. Alta is a large cargo ship, originally with a flag from Tanzania, built in 1976, that was last seen in Bermuda in 2018 and has since been a floating "ghost-ship", drifting across the Atlantic Ocean.

Today an abandoned cargo vessel washed up on the rocks, west of Ballycotton, Co. Cork. It was examined by the Waterford Coast Guard to ensure it was not releasing pollutants into the environment. The cargo vessel was seen in September 2019 in the Mid Atlantic Ocean by the U.K. Royal Navy's Devonport-based HMS Protector. So what happened that it became a floating ghost ship?

Originally there was 10 crew on-board when the M.V. Alta was last seen approx. 1380 miles southeast of Bermuda in October 2018. The crew were rescued by the Coast Guard Cutter Confidence, after 20 days being stranded on the disabled cargo ship.

"We were conducting law enforcement patrol near Puerto Rico when we were assigned to assist crew of the motor vessel Alta" - said Cmdr. Travis Emge, the commanding officer of the Confidence.

"We travelled over 1300 nautical miles to get to the disabled ship ahead of Hurricane Leslie's forecasted track and brought the 10 crew members aboard. We are all proud of our part in this coordinated Coast Guard response to rescue this crew"

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