A crew of a British ship named MV Cheshire and owned by Bibby Line Limited, was rescued by helicopters 45 miles south of Gran Canaria, one of Spain's Canary Islands, off northwestern Africa, the Dailymail reports. According to a communiqué issued by the company earlier this week, «the vessel is loaded with a full cargo of ammonium nitrate based fertiliser and is on passage from Norway to Thailand to discharge». According to the same source MV Cheshire «arrived at around 15.00 hours on August 13th at a safe position 45 miles south of Gran Canaria, as she was scheduled to stop in Las Palmas to take on bunkers». «Unfortunately, the temperature in hold 4 rose to a high enough level to cause damage to the hatch cover and the plan is to use the assistance of a specialist», stated the company. Indeed, Bibby Line Limited appointed an American salvage company named Resolve to ease the fumes and control the situation. The Resolve team is on the ship, according to the company which confirmed to Yabiladi that it is on board trying to stop the fumes. «The fumes are contained around the ship. We expect the incident to finish in 2 or 3 days», stated a source from the British company. When asked whether the incident could pollute the territorial waters of Morocco, precisely the Boujdour shore, Bibby Line Limited stressed that «Morocco has not been involved» and that the ship is located 80 miles south the canary Island. «There is no danger for Morocco as the fumes are only around the ship». The same source insisted that the company is not moving the ship unless the problem is completely solved. Trying to get the version of the story from the local authorities, Yabiladi contacted the Ministry of Agriculture, Sea Fishery, Rural Development, Water Bodies & Forests which did not reply. The vessel as located by Vesselfinder./Ph. VesselFinder
