Last week’s Atlantic Storm Dennis brought Ireland an unwelcome new attraction: an abandoned freighter washed ashore in Ballycotton, near Cork, just a short distance from one of the area’s most popular beaches.
Authorities are trying to determine whether it can be towed for repair or scrap before waves break it apart and spill engine oil where it hit the rocky shore.
The hulk has been identified as the MV Alta, which was in the news in 2018 when the U.S. Coast Guard rescued a starving crew of ten who were stranded on board when the vessel broke down and they were unable to repair it. They had been 20 days without food or water. It was next spotted a year later drifting in the mid-Atlantic by a British Royal Navy ice patrol ship.
At the time it was abandoned, it was registered in Tanzania, and was traveling from Greece to Haiti. Authorities have not yet been able to determine who may now own or be responsible for it.
