Romania: The Queen Hind flying the Palau flag carrying 14,600 sheep to Saudi Arabia was suddenly overturned in the Black Sea on November 24, shortly after leaving Midia port.

Ana-Maria Stoica, spokesman for the Romanian rescue agency, said the crew of 20 Syrians and a Lebanese of Queen Hind had been rescued with 32 sheep after the incident.

"The rescue operation will continue. We hope the sheep inside the cabin are still alive," Stoica said. Romanian authorities are not clear why the ship capsized.

Romanian military forces, police and divers are assisting rescue workers to try to pull the ship in distress. Acebop, the Romanian Livestock and Export Association, has called for an investigation into the incident of the ship capsize.

"Our association is shocked by this disaster. If we cannot protect cattle during long-distance transportation, we should ban this behavior," Mary Pana, president of Acebop, issued a statement on 24th. / 11.

Gabriel Paun, a member of the NGO International International, accused the Queen Hind ship of overloading and had an engine failure in December last year.

Romania is the EU's third largest sheep breeding country and a leading exporter, mainly to Middle Eastern markets.

Animal rights activists have called Romania's cattle transport trains a "death", warning all sheep at risk of being "cooked" in the hold in the summer months. hard.

Vytenis Andriukaitis, a former European commissioner for health and food safety, in July asked Romania to stop transporting 70,000 sheep to the Gulf region on the grounds of ensuring animal welfare.