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PHOTO: Reuters
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Ten Romanian cargo ships loaded with at least 130,000 live animals have been blocked in the Suez Canal en route to third countries in the Middle East, Digi TV reported24.
Traffic through the Suez Canal has been blocked for several days after a giant container ship got stuck in it, and attempts to release it have so far failed, BTA reports.
The Romanian Sanitary and Veterinary Service has convened a crisis cage and is looking for solutions to prevent the animals on board the blocked ships from dying of hunger, thirst, heat or overcrowding.
Authorities said they had contacted shipowners who assured them that they had sufficient stocks for the animals and that the vessels had desalination plants in place if drinking water ran out.
“At the moment, the ships have water and food for the animals. They are loaded with an additional 25 percent (…) The option for the five ships in the Aegean Sea is to return. Another measure is to take the animals to nearby ports, which to provide conditions for the protection of animals “, said Viorel Kjovianu, Chairman of the National Sanitary and Veterinary Service.
As a first step, Romanian authorities stopped on March 24 all ships that were about to leave in the same direction to avoid being blocked at the entrance to the Suez Canal.
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