Updated 18 February 2020 at 03:42 IST
Ireland: Abandoned 'ghost ship' washes ashore after drifting at sea for over a year
Abandoned ‘ghost ship’ has run aground near the fishing village of Ballycotton in Ireland after drifting at sea for over a year, thanks to Storm Dennis.
- World News
- 3 min read

The voyage of an abandoned 'ghost ship', that drifted for over a year, came to an end after it washed up on the coast of the Emerald Isle overlooking the Celtic Sea in the wake of Storm Dennis.
An Irish Coast Gaurd recently uploaded the video of the 'ghost ship' that ran aground near Ballycotton, a fishing village in County Cork, Ireland, overlooking the Celtic Sea. According to reports, the MV Alta which was run aground by Storm Dennis was stuck on the rocks. At first glance, the ship looked intact.
Lonely odyssey of the 'ghost ship'
The MV Alta was abandoned by its crew back in September 2018 after it became disabled about 2,220 km south-east of Bermuda. Reports have indicated that the 10-strong crew was rescued by the US coastguard after they determined that they could not repair the ship. The rescued crew members of the ship were brought to Puerto Rico.
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Rescue 117 was tasked earlier today to a vessel aground near Ballycotton, Cork. There was nobody on board. Previously the @USCG had rescued the 10 crew members from the vessel back in September 2018. The vessel has been drifting since and today came ashore on the Cork coastline. pic.twitter.com/NbvlZ89KSY
— Irish Coast Guard (@IrishCoastGuard) February 16, 2020
This morning’s office - #MVAlto #Ballycotton #SeaWreck pic.twitter.com/nem9LpuwQ7
— JennïeØSullivân (@OSullivanJennie) February 17, 2020
After being abandoned, the ship was towed till Guyana where it was subsequently hi-jacked and its fate from there on was later unknown until September last year. On September 3, 2019, the HMS Protector, a Royal Navy ice patrol ship uploaded images of the abandoned 'ghost ship' on its Twitter page. According to the tweet, they came in contact with the ship but when they tried to reach out, they received no response.
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Two days ago @hmsprotector discovered this apparently abandoned Merchant Vessel whilst mid-Atlantic. We closed the vessel to make contact and offer our assistance, but no one replied! Whilst investigations continue we’re unable to give you more detail on this strange event.🌊🚢🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/x29sB5IF06
— HMS Protector (@hmsprotector) September 2, 2019
According to reports, the MV Alta taking in the Americas, Africa and Europe before finally running aground in Ireland.
(Image Credit:@hmsprotector/Twitter)
Published By : Shubham Bose
Published On: 18 February 2020 at 03:42 IST