Bananas, avocados and plantains reportedly in containers that fell off Baltic Klipper at weekend, as coastguard monitors clear-up
A large consignment of fruit including bananas and avocados has started to wash up on the south coast of England, after several containers fell into the sea close to the Isle of Wight.
According to HM Coastguard, five containers lost from the Baltic Klipper on Saturday 6 December have washed ashore around Selsey in West Sussex.
“Other containers have been sighted adrift off the shoreline and an HM Coastguard helicopter and fixed wing aircraft have been carrying out searches,” it said.
A total of 16 containers went overboard from the Seatrade-operated cargo ship in the Solent.
It was reported that eight of these were carrying bananas, two were loaded with plantains, and one contained avocados. The other five are understood to be empty.
The coastguard said it would work with the vessel’s owners, who are responsible for recovering the containers.
The Baltic Klipper, which runs as part of Seatrade’s Caribanex Reefer Service, was loaded with fruit in the Colombian Port of Turbo in mid-November.
After that, it called at another Colombian port, Santa Marta, before stopping in Manzanillo, Mexico.
It then stopped in the Dutch port of Vlissingen before heading for Portsmouth.
