BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbadian authorities say efforts will resume on Friday to salvage the vessel MV Christina Debora. This abandoned vessel had been adrift in the South Atlantic since its crew was rescued in June last year.
The vessel ran aground near Sam Lord’s Castle, a luxury all-inclusive resort overlooking the Caribbean Sea, last Wednesday, and attempts to salvage it on Sunday were halted due to safety concerns for personnel involved in the recovery.
“Following real-time aerial footage captured by the Barbados Defence Force’s (BDF) Drone Unit, a team from the Barbados Coast Guard (BCG) Ship Trident and a smaller BCG vessel made attempts to conduct an onboard assessment to determine the most efficient and effective method to connect the MV Christina Debora to the Barbados Port Inc’s Tug Boat, Hercules. However, these efforts were hampered by unfavourable sea conditions,” the Ministry of Environment and National Beautification, Green and Blue Economy, said in a statement.
“Based on the weather forecast for the upcoming week, a BDF official with the task force indicated that the swell of waves affecting the coast would prohibit vessel access for the next few days,” it added.
The director of the Coastal Zone Management Unit, Dr. Leo Brewster, said the longer the vessel stays in position on the reef, the greater the damage to the immediate ecosystem would be, especially as the vessel rocks.
However, he noted that personnel safety concerns must take precedence when deploying to board the vessel.
“It was agreed by on-site officials from the government-led inter-agency task force that until wave and wind conditions reduce and change direction, salvage efforts for the vessel would best be made between Friday, February 6, and Sunday, February 8,” the ministry said.
The authorities are reminding the public to maintain a distance of 500 metres for safety reasons, and to under no circumstances venture into the surrounding area or board the vessel.
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