A Russian cruise ship is now adrift in the North Atlantic after breaking free from a towing line when it was being sent from Canada to a scrapyard in January.
The Lyubovy Orlova, built in 1976, once took passengers to the icy waters of Antarctica. In 2010, she was sold to Neptune International Shipping to be broken up, but remained tied up at St. John's harbor in Newfoundland for more than two years.
On Jan. 23, the derelict ship left Canada for the Dominican Republic to be scrapped, but its towing cable snapped a day later. The ship escaped again after it was secured by a supply vessel on Jan. 31, and then drifted into international waters.
The ship's owners, Transport Canada, claim they are no longer responsible for the ship and that there's little chance of it drifting back under Canadian jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, according to a document from a US intelligence agency, obtained by the AFP, the abandoned ship was recently seen about 1,300 nautical miles off the coast of Ireland, and is drifting toward Europe.
"Earlier this week, Canadian officials acknowledged they did not know the location of the ship, as the vessel's global positioning system was no longer working," the AFP writes.
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