Friday 12 May, the central operations room in the Environment Ministry received a complaint from a diving boat on the Red Sea that there were bodies of dead sheep on Giftun Island offshore Hurghada.
A team was formed that included officials from the Environment Ministry, the veterinary authorities, and Hurghada local government, to investigate the incident.
Twenty-five bodies of dead sheep were found in a bloated, deteriorated condition. Attempts to move them away for safe burial failed since the water made them too heavy and excessively deteriorated; it was feared the bodies would be shattered to pieces that would attract sharks. They were finally buried on the island.
It was found that the sheep were dumped by the Turkish livestock carrier ALFERDAWI-1. The ship was seized by Egyptian authorities for illegally dumping dead sheep on 9 May, and taken to Safaga. The owner faces a hefty fine and has to cover all the expenses incurred by the dead sheep burial.
Watani International
13 May 2018