A British Coast Guard helicopter and aircraft circled off the southern coast of England this weekend, searching the waters for spilled cargo. Broadcasts were sent to warn nearby ships. A cordon was set up to keep the public away from the beach.
They were searching for bananas.
Sixteen containers fell off a ship traveling in the Solent, a strait between the between the Isle of Wight and the English mainland, at about 6 p.m. on Saturday, the British Coast Guard said in a statement.
Eight contained bananas, two plantains and one avocados. Five were empty. As of Sunday night, five of them have washed up near Selsey, a town on the south coast of England, spilling bananas by the bunches on the beach.
“Just thousands of bananas,” said John Screech, a professional photographer based in the town. ”They basically washed ashore in Selsey because we’ve had some very strong winds and big tides.”
The ship, a Liberia-flagged vessel called the Baltic Klipper, set off from Vlissingen in the Netherlands on Friday and was bound for Portsmouth, England, according to vessel-tracking site VesselFinder.
As of Sunday night, five of the containers had washed up ashore around Selsey, which has a population of about 11,000, the Coast Guard said.
Photos show bunches of bananas scattered along the shoreline in front of one of the large containers lodged in the sand, buffeted by waves.
Other photos showed officials collecting plastic bags full of bananas — most of them green and unripe, many still wrapped in plastic labels. It is unclear how the avocados and plantains are doing.
The trouble now, Mr. Screech said, is that other debris from the shipping containers has followed the influx of bananas, and has left the beach littered with insulation, crates and pallets.
“They’re organic — they’re not the issue,” he said of the bananas, noting that the salt water had ruined many of them, turning the fruit black.
The Coast Guard said that it is working with the vessel’s owners, who are responsible for recovering the containers. Other containers have been seen drifting off the shoreline, it said, and a Coast Guard helicopter and aircraft have been conducting searches.
West Sussex authorities put up cordons to prevent people from approaching the containers, warning that they might be hazardous.
A cruise ship, the P & O Cruises’ Iona, was delayed on Saturday from departing from the city of Southampton, 30 miles northwest of Selsey, the BBC reported. The ship, which can carry up to 5,200 passengers, was set to embark on a 14-day cruise with stops in Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands. It was given clearance to depart on Sunday.
The Coast Guard initially said material that washes ashore from a ship needs to be reported. Those who fail to do so within 28 days risked a fine equivalent to more than $3,000.
But it later clarified that perishable items don’t need to be reported. Instead, the local West Sussex County Council will be providing information about what to do with the marooned fruit.
The council has contracted staff who will arrive on Monday morning to start clearing it away, the Coast Guard said.
Ali Watkins contributed reporting from London.
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news.
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