Overview
- The shipment left Montevideo in mid-September with 2,901 bovines bound for Turkey and was turned away on October 21 over inconsistencies in sanitary certificates.
- The animals were offloaded in Libya, a nonroutine destination for Uruguay without a bilateral sanitary protocol, as authorities framed the case as a commercial dispute.
- Uruguay says the episode is now closed but will keep monitoring outstanding data, including official tallies of animals that died during the journey.
- Preliminary NGO estimates suggest 50 to 100 deaths, which have not been confirmed, and groups want clarity on whether carcasses were disposed of at sea.
- The Togo-flagged vessel Nada, operated by Livestock Express, recorded days-long AIS location gaps, and Uruguay maintains its OMSA-recognized foot-and-mouth disease status with vaccination.