Hi All
Latest on Riverdance's predicament - courtesy of
http://icealing.icnetwork.co.uk/"Ship may be grounded for week
10:00, Feb 3 2008
A ship grounded after it was hit by a freak wave may be stranded off Blackpool for another week because of bad weather.
Hugh Shaw, the Secretary of State's Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention, said the salvage operation for Riverdance is being hampered by the weather and, with forecasters predicting more gales, he added: "I certainly think we're looking at a week, not the next few days."
Helicopters and lifeboats scrambled to the ferry at about 7.30pm on Thursday night, after a freak wave hit the vessel 12 miles out in the storm-tossed Irish Sea off.
The last of the crew were winched off early Friday after the ship ran aground near Blackpool.
A team of salvagers were winched on to the ship on Saturday morning and spent around 90 minutes assessing the state of the vessel and its cargo.
Mr Shaw said: "It was good news, the vessel is intact. The ramp of the vessel is intact and there's no problem we can see with the fuel tanks."
He added: "We hope to get people back onboard on Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. There's still a lot of work going on in the background.
"The salvagers will do a model on their computers, looking at suitable plans. The appropriate salvage tugs or harbour tugs will be brought in at the suitable time."
An exclusion zone of 400m is still in place around the ferry and part of the esplanade is closed. A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it will continue to monitor the area.
Thousands of packets of McVitie's biscuits have washed up from the ferry."
Regards
Steve Ellwood
