UK warns of danger from Russian ghost ship

British media have unanimously quoted experts warning that a Russian ghost ship, filled with cannibal rats and pathogens, may soon wash ashore in this country.

The Lyubov Orlova while still operating in the Aitcho Island area in 2008. Photo: Discovery

Nearly a year ago, the 4,250-ton Russian passenger ship Lyubov Orlova went missing in a storm at sea while being towed from Canada. Coastguards fear the 40-year-old ship has been drifted across the North Atlantic by strong winds and is now somewhere near the British coast.

Searchers believe that the ghost ship is likely to have hundreds, even thousands, of disease-carrying rats on board, with no other food source other than their own kind.

Based on distress signals believed to have been accidentally sent from the ship in March last year and an unverified satellite image, it is believed the ghost ship Lyubov Orlova could have crashed into the west coast of Ireland, Scotland or the southern tip of England.

A spokesman for the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the authorities had not received any reports of sightings of the ship since April last year, but were always ready to respond promptly.

The Lyubov Orlova, built to carry 110 passengers, was impounded in Newfoundland, Canada, in 2010 after its crew abandoned it over a debt dispute. Two years later, it was towed to the Dominican Republic to be scrapped. However, as the ship became dilapidated, the Canadian government decided to tow it further out to sea and abandon it.

Yet adventurers continue to search for it. This is because, by law, anyone who finds the abandoned ship and throws a rope overboard can claim ownership of it. Scrap taken from the ship is estimated to be worth nearly $1 million.

In addition to the risk of cannibal rats, experts say ghost ships could also pose a threat to Europe's coastlines and oil rigs.

According to vietnamnet