MASSAWA, Oct 24: After more than 70 cramped days at sea and rejection by dozens of countries, 52,000 politically embarassing Australian sheep started leaving their ship after it arrived in Eritrea on Wednesday.

Since they left the Australian port of Fremantle on August 5, the plight of the sheep — 5,000 of which died aboard the vessel Cormo Express, now dubbed the “ship of death” — has caused a political storm in Australia where the government weathered calls for a ban on its lucrative live animal export trade.

The Cormo Express had been sailing around the Middle East since Saudi Arabia rejected the sheep in August, claiming they were diseased.

Veterinary surgeons said there was nothing wrong with them, but about 30 countries followed the Saudi lead and refused to take them. Crew members said the ship had arrived in Massawa on Wednesday.—AFP