Experts have voiced their fears that bad weather has driven the abandoned tow ship Lyubov Olova towards the UK after it went missing more than a year ago. The ship has been missing in the North Atlantic Ocean for over a year now, and it has been spotted close to the UK shoreline.
What’s worrying the experts is that it is believed that these two ships will contain hundreds if not thousands of diseased rats – with only each other for food and yet still breeding at an alarming rate.
This ship was originally heading for the Dominican Republic when it was cut adrift and could beach on our coastline. Coastguards are worried that the ship, which is 40-years old, has been affected by high winds and storms, which we have seen in recent weeks.
The Soviet-based vessel is set to hit the West coast of Ireland, Scotland, or even the southern coastline in Cornwall. The ship has been sighted several times, but not since April last year so it’s speculation at present as to where it is heading. The ship was built to carry 110 passengers but was abandoned by its crew in 2010 and impounded after the crew fell out over a debt. Following this, it was towed to the Dominican Republic to be scrapped. That’s when it came loose and left out at sea. The ship is currently worth around £600,000 in a scrap but is still out at sea as the transmitters are still intact.
The worry is that the rats from this ship will hit the UK coastline and the rats will come ashore. If this happens, we could see many distressed residents at the prospect of rats that have been feeding off each other.
It all sounds like a bit of a horror story and the newspapers went a little crazy last week about this why wouldn’t they it sells papers.