The Twitterverse has gone crazy (crazier?) over reports of the Ghost Ship Swarming With Cannibal Rats Bound for Britain. Dozens of newspaper websites have feaverishly picked up the story.  In all the foolishness, I was reminded of Evelyn Waugh’s satirical novel “Scoop” in which an unlikely journalist “scooped” the competition by reporting on fictitious battles in a civil war in an obscure African country. The story of the “Ghost Ship” Lyubov Orlova  is a bit like that — there appears to be no there there. All indications are that the ship sank many months ago and, even if didn’t, there aren’t likely to be many surviving rats on the ship, in the unlikely event that the ship is still afloat.  In all the hub-bub, the British Maritime & Coast Guard Agency (MCA) saw fit to release a statement:

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has received no sightings of the former Soviet cruise ship ‘Lyubov Orlova’ since April last year and there is no evidence to suggest it is still afloat. 

Any ‘ghost’ ship entering European waters is highly likely to be reported due to the large number of vessels passing through the area. We would then act accordingly.