A ship carrying about 16,000 sheep bound for Saudi Arabia sank on Saturday evening off the coast of Sudan in the Red Sea, port officials said.
An official at the port of Suakin, where the ship sank, who asked not to be named, said “the ship Badr 1 was carrying 15,800 sheep, more than its cargo” and sank early Sunday morning. .
Another official confirmed the accident and the survival of the ship’s crew, explaining that “the sinking of the ship will affect the operation of the port.”
He also talked about the “environmental impact of the death of a large number of animals carried by the ship.”
The official indicated that the ship was operating at a maximum payload of nine thousand heads and modifications were made to increase the payload. He noted that “it was the first time he had carried over 15,000 head, having previously carried 12,000 head.”
Omar Bashir al-Khalifa, head of Sudan’s Chamber of Exporters, told reporters: “The ship sank at the pier (inside the pier) at a depth of about 13 meters.”
He added that it took hours, “and she could have been saved.”
Last May, a fire broke out in the historic port of Suakin, about sixty kilometers from Port Sudan, the country’s main port. An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the fire, but the results have not yet been released.
Saleh Salim, head of the Sudanese Chamber of Livestock Exporters, confirmed that the cattle that sank on the ship belonged to four Sudanese companies, and their total value is equivalent to about four million dollars.
“We demand that the Prosecutor General’s Office form an investigative commission and bring those responsible for the accident to the investigation,” he added.
Selim demanded compensation from the insured animal and the carrier company.
