Barbados is bringing in outside help to deal with the MV Christina Debora.
The ghost ship is currently situated off Barbados’ south-eastern coast after running aground. Since then, efforts to remove the ship have proved difficult.
On Wednesday, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment and National Beautification, David Leacock, said they were contracting outside experts.
“The [ministry] is taking the lead on it and we are seeking an assessment by a salvage team out of Trinidad. Once we have that assessment we will be better placed in saying what we can do regarding the vessel,” he said.
There have been social media posts from those who were performing diving expeditions by the ship, which was last seen listing to one side. Leacock advised the public it was not safe to dive around the vessel.
“It’s not advisable as we are unsure as to the stability of the vessel. The precautions in effect when it first beached should continue to be observed,” he said.
According to international news reports, the MV Christina Debora, a standby guard/emergency response and rescue vessel registered in Zanzibar, needed rescuing when on June 8 last year, it experienced “catastrophic clutch failure”, completely losing propulsion while it was around 300 nautical miles northwest of St Helena Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 1 200 miles from Africa. Seven crew members were on board at the time.
The vessel remained adrift despite numerous rescue attempts. By June 21, it had drifted about 450 nautical miles from St Helena, nearing Ascension Island, both in the South Atlantic, with no towing capabilities available from either location.
On the night of June 23, the crew abandoned ship and was safely taken aboard the container ship The Theseus.
The ship was left adrift, becoming a ghost/phantom ship, but in January it was seen near Barbados’ south-east coast, off Sam Lord’s Castle, St Philip, where it ran aground on the reef.
(CA)