Italian
(1)
WASHINGTON - Una nave da carico statunitense prevista per salpare Lunedi in una missione per distruggere decine di contenitori di armi chimiche letali essere rimossi dalla Siria è stata ritardata da problemi al motore.
English
US ship held up en route to Syria chemical weapons mission
Gennaio Lunedì 27 2014
Raw materials for making sarin and mustard gas are to be destroyed on board the MV Cape Ray.
(1)
WASHINGTON — A US cargo ship scheduled to set sail Monday on a mission
to destroy dozens of containers of deadly chemical weapons being removed
from Syria was delayed by engine problems.
But defense officials said they still are
hoping the MV Cape Ray, which is loaded with sophisticated equipment,
will leave soon for the roughly two-week trip across the Atlantic and
into the Mediterranean Sea. It was delayed when there was an electrical
problem with one of the ship’s two main engines.
The Cape Ray is headed to the Italian port of
Gioia Tauro, where the Syrian chemicals will be transferred to the ship.
The chemicals include raw materials for making sarin and mustard gas
and they will be destroyed on board the Cape Ray at sea.
On Monday, a second shipment of chemical
weapons was loaded onto Danish and Norwegian ships at the port of
Latakia in Syria, according to a statement from the UN and the
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The ships are
expected to stay in international waters off Syria waiting for
additional loads.
Security challenges in Syria have slowed the
transport of the materials to the port there where they are then loaded
onto the ships. The Danish and Norwegian cargo vessels will transfer the
chemicals onto the Cape Ray at the Gioia Tauro port.
Officials have said that about 700 tons of chemical weapons will be destroyed.
The 648-foot (197-meter) Cape Ray is carrying
two massive machines, called field deployable hydrolysis systems, which
will mix the chemicals with heated water and other chemicals to break
down the toxic weapons in a titanium reactor, making them inert.
The Cape Ray belongs to the Department of
Transportation’s Maritime Administration, but control of the ship
transferred to the US Navy’s sealift command Monday morning. Col. Steve
Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday that there is a crew of about
35 civilian mariners on the ship and some technical experts. More than
60 experts needed to operate the hydrolysis machines as well as other
security and support staff are expected to be on the ship for the
eventual chemical transfer. Most of those will board the Cape Ray at a
later date.
The confirmed use of chemical weapons in the
Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21, in which the US government said
1,400 people died, prompted a US-Russian agreement to eliminate Syria’s
chemical weapons by mid-2014.
In a message to the crew Monday, Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel called the mission historic and noted that, “Your
task will not be easy. Your days will be long and rigorous. But your
hard work, preparation, and dedication will make the difference.”
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