KUWAIT CITY, Oct 5: A so-called “ship of death” with more than 50,000 stranded Australian sheep on board will leave Kuwait, where it has been docked since Thursday, either late on Sunday or Monday, a port official said.

“The ship is still being supplied with fodder and fuel. The process is slow and may finish late on Sunday or Monday. After that the ship will leave,” Tawfik Shehab, head of operations at Kuwait Public Ports Authority, told AFP.

Shehab said a small fire caused by static electricity generated while loading the fodder was “extinguished within minutes and caused no casualties or damage.”

Kuwait on Saturday followed the United Arab Emirates and refused to offload the sheep, rejected earlier by Saudi Arabia on health grounds, because it is obliged to respect decisions taken by other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

The vessel has been in Gulf waters for the last two months sparking protests by animal rights campaigners after Saudi Arabia alleged the sheep had unacceptable levels of the disease scabby mouth.—AFP