Gimme shelter, gimme gas mask
200 TONNES of stinking, rotting meat – surrounded by the Dutch refrigerator vessel Beriks – was refused permission today to dock in Ukraine.
Beriks left the Georgian port of Poti in December. Its cargo of Brazilian and Chinese meat products have long since passed their sell-by date, but now its refrigeration machinery has broken down as well.
The ports of Nikolaev, Yevpatoria and Feodosiya have all refused entry because of the rotting cargo’s smell. The ship today reached the Kerch Strait but was instructed that it could approach no nearer than 20km from the coast.
The dozen crew members have told Ukrainian journalists that they must wear gas masks to breathe and have run out of food and water. Ukrainian authorities have rejected throwing the meat overboard because the technology needed to do so is not available.
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