Marine Atlantic's Latest Controversy

Only a few months after volunteers got sick in their lifeboats*, Marine Atlantic looks like it's in trouble again.

It turns out their vessel Atlantic Freighter has a bad case of the ol' asbestos. It turns out Marine Atlantic has known this since the early 1990's. The assumption was that the asbestos were safely contained, but it turns out this may not have been the case.

Beyond Marine Atlantic's too-brief summer presence in our community, there is another local link to this story. As reported in the Charter, a Ship Harbour resident and Marine Atlantic employee has suffered prolonged exposure to the deadly chemicals. The Charter reports that the man's doctor predicts a 90% chance that he will suffer asbestos-related health problems in the future.

Marine Atlantic denies any wrongdoing and says previous air quality tests showed no problems. Look for further developments.

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*during a mock disaster in the Bay of Islands