Ship quarantined

last updated 8 January 2015

Halifax

Canadian health officials quarantined a cargo ship in the Atlantic Ocean near Halifax this week after a crew member reportedly died from anthrax. The Egyptian sailor, Ibrahim Saed Ibrahim, flew from Cairo to board during a stopover in Brazil, and died before the ship headed north. A Brazilian police official, Geraldo Araujo, said there was a “90 percent chance” that anthrax killed Ibrahim. The sailor fell ill after opening a suitcase someone had given him in Cairo to hand off to someone in Canada. Authorities in Canada said they had no reason to suspect bioterrorism, but Araujo wasn’t so sure. “Obviously,” he said, “this could be terrorism.”