Syrian chemical weapons loaded on US ship

Cargo containers carrying hundreds of tons of Syrian chemical weapons were loaded onto a U.S. cargo ship Wednesay for eradication at sea, one of the final phases of the international effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapon stockpile, Associated Press reports.

The chemicals had crossed the Mediterranean aboard the Danish ship Ark Futura, which steamed into the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro as the sun rose Wednesday.

Waiting there was the U.S. cargo vessel MV Cape Ray, which arrived a day earlier and has equipment on board to neutralize the chemicals.

By midday, about a third of the 78 containers had been transferred from the Ark Futura to the Cape Ray, officials verbalized.

Italy’s environment minister, Gian Luca Galletti, proclaimed the mission a proud moment for Italy, tweeting that the country was contributing to international security in a “transparent and environmentally secure operation.”

The operation, however, has remotely been transparent for local residents, who repined that they were kept in the dark about what would transpire and what chemicals were going to be transferred in their port.

Once all the chemicals – including mustard gas and the raw materials for sarin nerve gas – are transferred onto the Cape Ray, the U.S. vessel will sail into the open sea and commence the process of neutralising the materials.