Nuclear ship away from Madeira headed for the Selvagens

Contrary to expectations, the nuclear waste ship, ‘Pacific Heron’, continues to sail in Portuguese territorial waters, about 50 kilometers southeast of Selvagem Grande, towards the Canary Islands.

Yesterday the freighter traveled through Portuguese waters, making an approach to the Madeiran coast without having authorization and ignoring the first notices from the Navy to change its route. The ‘Pacific Heron’ only left after being intercepted by the Portuguese Navy patrol vessel ‘Douro’, which had to send several signals until the nuclear freighter fulfilled the orders.

The captain of the Port of Funchal, José Luís Guerreiro Cardoso, said that the ship made a “strange” route around Madeira, passing first through the south coast of Porto Santo, going to the north coast of Madeira and then sailing along the south coast .

The ship was eventually intercepted by the Douro patrol in the Santa Cruz area, as it headed for Ponta de São Lourenço, a place for which it had no authorization.

According to the Captain of the Port of Funchal, the captain of the British ship guaranteed that he did not carry any dangerous cargo and that the trip was due to sea tests. The destination of ‘Pacific Heron’, he said, is a port in England.

But first, on the ‘Marine Traffic’ site, the British freighter sailed south at night and is between the Selvagens and Canary Islands.

Diário Notícias tried to contact the Captain of the Port of Funchal this morning to find out more details, but this has not yet been possible.

From Diário Notícias