Animals International: Incident in Midia Harbor could've been avoided if Romania stopped exporting live animals

The tragedy in Midia Harbor, where the Queen Hind ship, loaded with 14,600 sheep tipped over, on Sunday morning, could be avoided if there were emergency procedures for these kind of situations and, especially, if Romania would export meat instead of live animals, claims the Animals International organization, in a release sent, on Monday, to AGERPRES. 

"This tragedy could have been avoided if there were procedures for such emergency situations and, especially, if Romania would export meat instead of live animals. The images that we have obtained include thousands of animals crashing into the side walls of the ship before it sank and the animals drowned, followed by footage from this morning [Monday, November 25 - e.n.] with dead animals floating in the water. The ship was abandoned during the night, and in the morning there was no rescue operation for the poor animals," Gabriel Paun, EU director of Animals International, said. 

According to the organization, Queen Hind was involved in December 2018 in an incident in the Sea of Marmara where the engine malfunctioned, the ship remaining adrift for days, after which until November 24, 2019 it conducted several live animal transports from Romania to Jordan, but also Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Qatar. 

The last shipment was conducted from Midia Harbor, the ship departing, on November 1, towards Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, where it had arrived on November 9. One day later, on November 10, the ship left Jeddah towards Midia, where the ship arrived on November 23. 

"We suspect an overloading of the ship and bad weight distribution which led to a decisive listing and capsizing of the ship. We request a cross investigation of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Transport to see the causes of the tragedy, as well as in regards to the legislation regarding animal welfare and sea transport being respected and where it should require urgent improvement," said Paun. 

The Queen Hind, flying a Palau flag, with a deadweight tonnage of 3785, loaded with 14,600 sheep and a crew of 22 Syrian sailors, partially sank on the starboard side, on Sunday morning, in the basin of Midia Harbor, after leaving the pier, the Constanta County Police Inspectorate informed.