(BALLYGLASS, Ireland) — A barge that broke away from its moorings last November in Newfoundland was recovered Monday by lifeboat crew off the coast of Ireland, The Irish Times reported.
The steel barge, measuring 85 feet by 52 feet, was reported by a passing fishing vessel near Ballyglass on Monday evening. After arriving on the scene, a lifeboat crew with Ballyglass RNLI found that the barge was “unsecured and floating."
They were informed by the coast guard that the vessel had drifted more than 1,900 miles from Canada. The lifeboat crew then established a tow and brought the barge back to Ballyglass Harbor.
“We’ve never come across anything like it before,” said Allen Murray, a member of the lifeboat crew. “It was a very unusual one for us. If another boat had hit it, there wouldn’t be much left of it, put it that way."
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Editor's note: The barge has since been identified as Malik 1, which was used to transport food and other supplies to the Arctic by Quebec-based Group Desgagnes. The barge reportedly was on the deck of a company ship en route from the Arctic to Montreal on Nov. 5 when it broke from its tethers and fell into the sea.
