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The shipwrecked M V Alta on the rocks in Co Cork

Wreck of 'ghost ship' in east Cork posed an 'unacceptable' risk to members of the public

The report indicated that the potential cost of the full removal of the wreck would be “of low order several millions.”

THE WRECK OF a “ghost ship” that has lain on rocks in east Cork for over three years posed an “unacceptable” risk to members of the public who boarded the vessel, a report has revealed.

A health and safety assessment of the wreck of M V Alta, located about 1.5 kilometres outside Ballycotton, Co Cork, identified several “high level” risks which it posed  to people on board the vessel or in its vicinity, given the potential for its further deterioration during storms.

They include the risk of slips, trips and falls and the sudden failure of fittings and fixtures as well as the detachment of an overhanging derrick boom.

The report said it could “not rule out a fatality as being possible” as a result of people trying to access the shipwreck.

It concluded mitigation measures were necessary and made a number of recommendations in the absence of a full removal of the wreck.

The report which was commissioned by the Department of Transport last year has only just been published.

However, the department said Cork County Council had confirmed that mitigation measures to address the risks identified in the report “have been completed.”

They included that the vessel’s derrick boom and wires, which are in a “parlous” state,  should be removed because of the threat they could collapse and injure anyone near the wreck.

The report by a London-based marine engineering consultancy firm also recommended the installation of further warning signs on the vessel and on approaches to the site of the wreck including at the start of a clifftop path in order to discourage potential visitors.

The merchant ship has attracted large numbers of sightseers since it ran aground on the rocks at Ballyandreen Bay, west of Ballycotton on 16 February, 2020 during Storm Dennis.

It had been abandoned by its crew and left adrift in October 2018 approximately 2,250 kilometres south-east of Bermuda after it was rendered irreparably disabled while on a voyage from Greece to Haiti.

The Tanzanian-registered vessel, which was built in 1976, had last been spotted by a UK Royal Navy ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on 3 September, 2019

A report by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board found it had drifted over 2,300 nautical miles for 496 days before being shipwrecked on the Irish coastline.

The MCIB estimated M V Alta may have been adrift in Irish territorial waters for up to 43 days without being reported. The ownership of the vessel remains uncertain.

Over the past three winters, the condition of the wreck has deteriorated and it now lies in two separate main sections on a rocky foreshore following a collapse in the midship area.

Any remaining fuel in the tanks of the wreck was moved at the time of its grounding.

The health and safety assessment noted a limited quantity of other potentially hazardous materials remained on board the vessel.

While the ship’s crane was overhanging, it appeared structurally sound but the report said any future deterioration would need to be monitored.

It also recorded there has been at least one fire on board the wreck, while it was evident that several people have boarded the wreck from social media and the presence of graffiti on its hull.

The report said it may be possible to reduce the ways of accessing the upper levels from the lower levels of the wreck, although it acknowledged that “determined persons” could still manage it.

It also assessed the risks to marine ecology from M V Alta as at “acceptable levels”, while risks to the wider environment, infrastructure and commercial traffic were considered “generally low.”

The report said the full removal of the wreck would be challenging and would not be without risk itself “both to contractors and the environment.”

It calculated that the wreck will likely experience much higher significant wave heights if it remains in situ, which will drive it onto the foreshore and in an easterly direction along the coast.

The consultants said they had considered placing buoys and an exclusion area around the wreck but there were issues with the wreck lying in an intertidal zone and the nature of the seabed.

They warned that the greatest risks assessed were those of slips, trips and falls for people on or near the vessel which they claimed would increase over time as the physical condition of the wreck deteriorates.

The report said there was also the possibility that people who boarded the wreck could become stranded as they could be prevented from going back across the rocks to the cliffs when the tide comes in.

It claimed there was an additional risk to operators of pleasure craft, such as small boats, kayaks and jet-skis who might venture in close proximity to the wreck and that an exclusion zone around the vessel could be considered.

The report said the shipwreck appeared relatively stable and fixed in its current position.

It concluded that the residual level of risk if the various mitigation measures were implemented would be rated “medium.”

However, it said the acceptability of that level of risk was “partly a matter for the appropriate authority.”

The report indicated that the potential cost of the full removal of the wreck would be “of low order several millions.”

 

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    Mute John Flood
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:14 PM

    Exciting technology but please don’t call these passengers “astronauts”!

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    Mute Larry Betts
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:23 PM

    @John Flood: Space cadets

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    Mute Sean Kirwan
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:16 PM

    @John Flood: pretty sure anyone that leaves earth’s atmosphere is an astronaut.

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    Mute James Ward
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    Jul 21st 2021, 1:02 AM

    @Sean Kirwan: That’s what the discussion is about – both went above the original Karman line where aeronautics stop working (wing lift) and astronautics kick in (speed is needed), but way before a stable orbit. Like calling yourself an aeronaut because you took a flight to Spain, these guys were all exactly what passive human cargo always – passengers in an Astroplane/Rocket.

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:46 PM

    To the left of the ‘s’ and the right of the ‘e’?

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    Mute Larry Betts
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:52 PM

    @William Tallon: orbit further than that

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:04 PM

    @Larry Betts: A pretty sharpish reply there! Your definitely keen on these puns. Sharp as well, sharper than a newly sharpened edge even…

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    Mute Larry Betts
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:21 PM

    @William Tallon: Sharper than a sharpened talon I would suggest

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:31 PM

    @Larry Betts: They don’t come much sharper…

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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:35 PM

    @William Tallon: I can categorically state that no one on the journal is as sharp as Larry betts lol. Him excellent.

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    Mute Larry Betts
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:37 PM

    @Paul Gorry: Thanks for your recommendation. PG tips are always welcome

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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:39 PM

    @Larry Betts: ye see this is what I mean! The proof is in the pudding ha ha.

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    Mute Mick Tobin
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:14 PM

    Perhaps in order to reach space you need to risk burning up in the earth’s atmosphere in order to return, and if this is the case then neither Branson nor Bezos pulled it off, and likely it’s Elon Musk who’s biding his time, to eventually put people into a one-round orbit to claim the ultimate and perhaps only fair prize of the first real tourist space trip.

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    Mute Tony Gordon
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:43 PM

    @Mick Tobin: and if an orbit is what’s required, then you’d have to rewrite the history books (Shepard and Glenn didn’t make it)

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    Mute John Considine
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:14 AM

    @Mick Tobin: Mark my words, Musk intends to orbit the moon on his first flight. He won’t land or anything, that’s been sold to NASA for 2024, but I strongly suspect he’ll go up in one of the earlier orbital missions.

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    Mute Mick Tobin
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:17 AM

    @Tony Gordon: Well maybe we can distinguish between different classes of astronauts, e.g. class N (Nasa 80km line – Brandon), class K (Karman 100km line – Bezos), and class O (completing at least one orbit).

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:43 AM

    @John Considine: from such humble beginnings in apartheid South Africa. A true embodiment of the American dream

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    Mute Teddy Bear
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:20 AM

    @John Considine: what do you mean by sold?

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    Mute Vincent Bickerstaffe
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:40 PM

    Anyone know what the Edge of Earth is?

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    Mute Liam McDonald
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:42 PM

    @Vincent Bickerstaffe: Leitrim

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:46 PM

    @Vincent Bickerstaffe: near Bono usually

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    Mute pkunzip doom2.zip
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:47 PM

    @Vincent Bickerstaffe: Longford is outer space

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    Mute Vincent Bickerstaffe
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:50 PM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: aha..good one..

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    Mute Vincent Bickerstaffe
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:51 PM

    @Vincent Bickerstaffe: 10:45.. ISS flying over head

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    Mute Tony Gordon
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:41 PM

    @Vincent Bickerstaffe: technically falling not flying

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    Mute Phil Redmond
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    Jul 21st 2021, 7:26 AM

    @Vincent Bickerstaffe: It’s round. It doesn’t have an edge or am I not allowed say that in case I offend some flat earth nutcase

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    Mute Matt
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:32 PM

    Who cares its not relevant

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    Mute Mick Tobin
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:13 AM

    @Matt: Not relevant to what? It’s obviously relevant to your online presence since you cared to comment.

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    Mute Pauliebhoy
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:55 PM

    Down the back of the sofa?

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    Mute alan hickey
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:52 AM

    Bezos comes across as an as hole compared t Branson

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    Mute David Dineen
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:41 PM

    Your about two weeks too late, this debate was had when Branson blasted off to space,

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:54 PM

    @David Dineen: pretty sure the edge of space existed before July 2021. It does in fact exist but its hard to define. That’s why there’s a 20km discrepancy, huge if you’re going point to point on a map but when you’re going up 20km is almost literally nothing

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    Mute Ken Loughman
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:12 PM

    I cannot help but post this:

    https://youtu.be/lYSOmYyNHpU

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    Mute Linus Robin
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    Jul 21st 2021, 4:49 AM

    It’s wherever the Lord JB says it is I suppose.

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    Mute Steve O'Hara-Smith
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    Jul 21st 2021, 10:28 AM

    Regardless of where you put the arbitrary line I would say that you need to achieve orbit to be anything other than an over extended vomit comet flight. This is no more access to space than pole vaulting is access to high places.

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    Mute Life in no motion
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    Jul 21st 2021, 11:55 AM

    Two billionaires comparing the length of their rockets and how far they reach

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Jul 21st 2021, 11:46 AM

    Just outside Ballyhaunis.

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