Cruise Ship Epidemics
Cockroach Infestation
MV Astoria - Germany
Event Date: September, 2003
Cruise Bruise: Bug Infestation
Bruise Location: Greenwhich UK
Cruise Line:
Ship: MV Astoria
Details:
The MV Astoria docked in Greenwich with 492 passengers and 250 crew onboard.
According to the London port health authority, two officers boarded the vessel and discovered that both its crew galley and its passenger galley were infested with cockroaches.
They issued an emergency prohibition notice forbidding the preparation of food on the liner, either for crew or passengers. Master, Ivan Smramko, had accepted a voluntary detention agreement which required the ship to stay in port until the infestation had been treated.
The liner's passengers are believed to have disembarked in London.
But, at 3am the next day, the master decided to sneek the ship out of port going straight back to their home port in Bremerhaven.
The powers to board and inspect foreign vessels under the Food Safety Act only came into force the prior month.
