Barge that disappeared from Labrador coast turns up in waters off Ireland

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A barge that disappeared off the coast of Labrador six months ago has turned up bobbing in waters 3,000 kilometres away.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution in Ballyglass, Ireland, says a crew received a call to secure the barge and bring it to shore after it was spotted by a local fishing vessel.

Upon locating the wayward platform, crews towed the barge back to Ballyglass harbour.

In a statement, the institution’s operations manager says they weren’t expecting an unusual call like that, but are relieved to have it safely recovered.

The steel barge broke free from its moorings in Labrador last November, but it’s not the first time a Canadian vessel has made its way across the Atlantic to the north Mayo coast of Ireland.

In the fall of 2016, a solar-powered houseboat washed ashore in Ireland after it drifted away from Portugal Cove, N.L.

(VOCM)