Lyubov Orlova: Ghost ship carrying cannibal rats \u2018could be heading for Britain\u2019<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/incoming\/article9080512.ece\/ALTERNATES\/w620\/v2-cruise-ship.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nExperts say the cruise liner, adrift in the north Atlantic, may be too close for comfort<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\nADAM WITHNALL\u00a0<\/a>![\"Author](\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/skins\/ind\/images\/plus.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nA ghost ship carrying nothing but disease-ridden rats could be about to make land on Britain\u2019s shore, experts have warned.<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\n\nThe Lyubov Orlova cruise liner has been drifting across the north Atlantic for the better part of a year, and salvage hunters say there is a strong chance it is heading this way.<\/p>\n
Built in Yugoslavia in 1976, the unlucky vessel was abandoned in a Canadian harbour after its owners were embroiled in a debt scandal and failed to pay the crew.<\/p>\n
The authorities in Newfoundland tried to sell the hull for scrap \u2013 valued at \u00a3600,000 \u2013 to the Dominican Republic, but cut their losses when it came loose in a storm on the way.<\/p>\n
Sending the ship off into international waters, Transport Canada said it was satisfied the Lyubov Orlova \u201cno longer poses a threat to the safety of [Canadian] offshore oil installations, their personnel or the marine environment\u201d.<\/p>\n
Experts say the ship, which is likely to still contain hundreds of rats that have been eating each other to survive, must still be out there somewhere because not all of its lifeboat emergency beacons have been set off.<\/p>\n
Ghost riders: An unmanned Russian ship full of rats is adrift in the Atlantic – so, just how many other vagrant vessels are out there?<\/a><\/h5>\nTwo signals were picked up on the 12 and 23 March last year, presumably from lifeboats which fell away and hit the water, showing the vessel had made it two-thirds of the way across the Atlantic and was heading east.<\/p>\n
A week later, an unidentified object of about the right size was spotted on radar just off the coast of Scotland \u2013 but search planes never verified the find.<\/p>\n
Pim de Rhoodes, a Belgian salvage hunter who is among a number looking for the Lyubov Orlova off the UK coastline, told The Sun: \u201cShe is floating around out there somewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be a lot of rats and they eat each other. If I get aboard I’ll have to lace everywhere with poison.\u201d<\/p>\n
The head of the Irish coastguard, Chris Reynolds, said the ship was more likely than not to still pose a threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been huge storms in recent months but it takes a lot to sink a vessel as big as that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe must stay vigilant.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Life is \u00a0stranger than fiction? Lyubov Orlova: Ghost ship carrying cannibal rats \u2018could be heading for Britain\u2019 Experts say the cruise liner, adrift in the north Atlantic, may be too close for comfort ADAM WITHNALL\u00a0 A ghost ship carrying nothing but disease-ridden rats could be about to make land on Britain\u2019s shore, experts have warned. … Continue reading HAZARD TO NAVIGATION<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1934],"tags":[1935,2652],"class_list":["post-7912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hazard-to-navigation","tag-abandoned-ship","tag-hazard-to-navigation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7912"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7913,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7912\/revisions\/7913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nExperts say the cruise liner, adrift in the north Atlantic, may be too close for comfort<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nA ghost ship carrying nothing but disease-ridden rats could be about to make land on Britain\u2019s shore, experts have warned.<\/p><\/div>\n
The Lyubov Orlova cruise liner has been drifting across the north Atlantic for the better part of a year, and salvage hunters say there is a strong chance it is heading this way.<\/p>\n
Built in Yugoslavia in 1976, the unlucky vessel was abandoned in a Canadian harbour after its owners were embroiled in a debt scandal and failed to pay the crew.<\/p>\n
The authorities in Newfoundland tried to sell the hull for scrap \u2013 valued at \u00a3600,000 \u2013 to the Dominican Republic, but cut their losses when it came loose in a storm on the way.<\/p>\n
Sending the ship off into international waters, Transport Canada said it was satisfied the Lyubov Orlova \u201cno longer poses a threat to the safety of [Canadian] offshore oil installations, their personnel or the marine environment\u201d.<\/p>\n
Experts say the ship, which is likely to still contain hundreds of rats that have been eating each other to survive, must still be out there somewhere because not all of its lifeboat emergency beacons have been set off.<\/p>\n