An abandoned cruise ship full of rats is said to be floating somewhere near Scotland and could hit shore soon, bringing an unknown number of diseased rodents onto land.
Built by the Soviets in 1976, the Lyubov Orlova was constructed especially for pleasure cruises carrying Russian elites to the Arctic Circle, Gawker reported.
Canadian authorities, who seized the liner in 2010 to collect a debt, released the ghost ship into the North Atlantic about a year ago.
They found it easy enough to send the biohazard out into the ocean, Transport Canada stating that the liner "no longer poses a threat to the safety of [Canadian] offshore oil installations, their personnel or the marine environment," according to The Independent.
Officials believe the liner holding "hundreds" of rats could hit Ireland or the United Kingdom any day now.
Since the ship has been floating on the ocean for so long, some speculate that the rats have turned cannibal by now.
Pim de Rhoodes, a Belgian salvage hunter, is among those hunting the cruise ship off the UK coastline.
"She is floating around out there somewhere," he told The Sun. "There will be a lot of rats and they eat each other. If I get aboard I'll have to lace everywhere with poison."
Authorities have been on guard for the ship and have reported picking up two signals from the doomed vessel in March.
The liner was equipped with lifeboat emergency beacons that were likely activated when lifeboats fell off the ship and hit the water. Since not all the emergency signals have been set off, the boat is likely still at large, officials said.
"There have been huge storms in recent months but it takes a lot to sink a vessel as big as that," Chris Reynolds, head of the Irish coastguard, told The Independent. "We must stay vigilant."
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