Watch: Queen Hind Refloated

GSP Offshore has refloated the capsized livestock carrier Queen Hind and she is now docked in Midia Harbor, Romania.

The Palau-flagged Queen Hind capsized shortly after departing the Port of Midia in Romania on November 24 last year. While the crew escaped safely, only 180 of 14,600 sheep were saved. 

The Queen Hind, bound for Saudi Arabia, was built in 1980. In December 2018, she was involved in another incident on Marmara Sea when she suffered engine failure and was adrift for several days.

The refloat operation was completed on February 25. The salvors worked around the clock, with divers working in four shifts each day so that normal operations could resume in the harbor as soon as possible. 

GSP mobilized the biggest sea crane in the Black Sea, the GSP Neptun. Earlier this month, divers were sent to investigate after cranes were unable to lift the vessel as planned. Cables snapped under the extra weight which GSP believed could mean that several thousand more sheep were onboard than previously reported. The salvors claim there were extra decks not documented on the cargo loading plan.

The company will now start removing the dead livestock from the vessel.