A ship crowded with thousands of sheep sank in Sudan’s Red Sea port of Sudan on Sunday, drowning most of the animals on board, but the entire crew survived, officials said.
The cattle ship was exporting animals from Sudan to Saudi Arabia when it sank. “The ship Badr 1 sank in the early hours of Sunday morning,” said a senior Sudanese port official, who requested anonymity. “He was carrying 15,800 sheep.”
Another official, who said the entire crew had been rescued, expressed concern about the economic and environmental impact of the incident. “The sunken ship will affect the operation of the port,” the official said. “This is also likely to have an impact on the environment due to the death of a large number of animals carried by the ship.”
Omar al-Khalifa, head of the National Exporters’ Association, said it took several hours for the ship to sink on the quay, a window that suggests “it can be saved”.
The total value of the lost cattle is about 14 Saudi riyals ($ 3.7 million), said Saleh Selim, head of the association’s livestock department, who called for an investigation into the incident.
He said livestock owners had recovered only about 700 sheep, “but they have been found very ill and we do not expect them to live long.” He also confirmed that the sheep had been loaded on the ship in the port of Swakin.
Sheep rescued after sinking of Badr 1. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
The port is already under investigation to determine the cause of last month’s massive fire, which broke out in the cargo area, lasted for hours and caused severe damage.
The historic port city of Swakin is no longer Sudan’s main foreign trade center, a role taken over by the Port of Sudan, 60 km (40 miles) along the Red Sea coast.
There were steps to renovate the port of Swakin, but the 2017 agreement with Turkey to restore historic buildings and widen the docks was suspended after the ouster of longtime President Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan remains plagued by a chronic economic crisis that has deepened since last year’s military coup, led by Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
The military takeover has sparked punitive measures, including cuts in aid from Western governments that have demanded the restoration of the transitional administration set up after Bashir’s ouster.
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