600 tonne Severn Sands dredging vessel has drifted 2 miles by the highest tide of the year from its mooring at Fremington Barnstaple were it has been based for the past 2 years when the boats owner 'Mr. Barns' Left it there. He was originally going to turn it into a museum however that failed to evolve and instead a pirate flag was put up. On board the are an estimate 1000 tires 4000 liters of Oil 30-40 drums of unidentified fluids and gases also on board are cans of paint and Asbestos, North Devon Councilor 'Rodney Cann' Said (This is an environmental time bomb waiting to go off)
The vessel last night had a 50% chance of colliding with the Barnstaple downstream bridge causing chaos to the north Devon traffic and main road into Barnstaple.Also in danger of being stuck by the vessel were a number of house boats that are moored along the river Taw.
This Morning the a full scale operation involving the Police, Coast Guard, The enviroment agency and Militry to move the Vessel to a jetty at yelland however it was unsafe to do so so it was pushed by a tugg boat to the edge of the shore at Chivenor
It was only a matter of time and high tides before this happened. We often walk there and have been saying it's a disaster waiting to happen. Of course if the powers to be had taken control of the situation before, the whole thing could have been sorted out long ago. I would be inclined to send the 'owner' a bill for all the trouble and expense this has caused everyone concerned....
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