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It isn’t quite Whisky Galore! – the classic British film in which residents of a Scottish island attempt to pilfer 50,000 cases of spirit from a shipwreck.
Rather than the prospect of finding a warming dram or two, people on the south coast of England have been coming across bunches of bananas after containers fell off the back of a ship and washed up on beaches in West Sussex.
Initially, HM Coastguard issued stern warning that the finds ought to be reported to the receiver of wreck, the UK government civil servant whose role can be traced back to a time when pirates, smugglers and looters tried to hide plunder from the law.
However, the receiver’s office made it clear on Monday that because the “plunder” in this case was perishable, it did not need to be flagged to it.
That does not mean people should head to the south coast in search of a banana bonanza. West Sussex county council, which is leading the clearup operation, urged people to stay away. It said it needed time and room to clear containers – and bananas – away.
The saga began on Saturday when 16 containers went overboard from the refrigerated cargo ship Baltic Klipper in the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the British mainland.
The incident disrupted some shipping movements and the P&O Cruises ship Iona was delayed in departing from Southampton because of the incident.
Eight of the containers were reported as carrying bananas, two plantain, one avocados, and the remaining five were empty.
Five containers washed ashore around Selsey, West Sussex, with some breaking open, allowing bunches of bananas to float on to the beaches.
The coastguard, alongside West Sussex fire and rescue service and Sussex police put cordons in place and asked people not to go near.
Initially, the coastguard put out a statement reminding people that “all wreck material found in the UK has to be reported to HM Coastguard’s receiver of wreck”.
It pointed people in the direction of a form they needed to follow and said those who failed to declare items within 28 days were breaking the law and could be fined £2,500.
The receiver of the wreck made headlines in 2007 when containers washed off the beached cargo shop MSC Napoli and made land in Devon.
People arrived from across the UK to scavenge motorbikes, carpets, beauty creams, shoes, golf clubs, oil paintings, even oak wine barrels (which made it feel more Whisky Galore!)
This time the receiver, a former police detective called Steve White, is not needed. As the goods involved are perishable, he is not getting involved.
The Baltic Kipper was loaded with fruit in South America in mid-November. It docked in a Mexico and the Netherlands before heading towards Portsmouth. It was close to the Hampshire port when the containers apparently slipped off.
The coastguard has been searching for the missing containers using helicopters and fixed-wing planes.
West Sussex county council warned people to stay away from containers that had made land: “Do not approach the containers they may be hazardous. Please avoid the area. Allow us to make the site safe,” it said.
⚠️ Public safety notice:
Following an incident yesterday, two large shipping containers have washed up on Selsey beach. We are currently cordoning off the area:
Do not approach the containers they may be hazardous
Please avoid the area
Allow us to make the site safe⚠️
It is believed the bananas were heading to UK supermarkets, with Tesco labels spotted on some.
The supermarket insisted there was no need to panic – it had a good availability of bananas available in store and online.
