Praia, April 22, 2025 (Lusa) - The concessionaire for sea journeys between islands in Cabo Verde has suspended connections in the Sotavento (leeward/southern) group on Tuesday (the islands of Santiago, Maio, Fogo and Brava) following a breakdown and accident involving the ship Liberdadi on Monday.

The company announced in a statement that trips on the Sotavento Line are cancelled until further notice due to the "urgent need to dock for technical intervention. "

The Liberdadi ran aground at the entrance to Praia with 144 passengers and cargo, including cars, after making a U-turn on the high seas due to a generator fault while on its way to the island of Fogo.

The passengers were removed to a breakwater by the harbour access road and the ship was later towed to the quay.

CV Interilhas has indicated that it has no replacement, because another ship (Kriola) is also in dock "carrying out the maintenance and conservation work required to issue its safety and seaworthiness certificates".

The concessionaire said it considered "all possibilities to find solutions to ensure that connections on the Santiago/Fogo/Brava and Santiago/May routes can be guaranteed as soon as possible".

"At the moment, it's impossible to give a date for restoring the connections," it concluded.

The same Liberdadi ship had already suffered "a technical incident in the main engine" the previous week.

In February, another of the fleet's four vessels, the Dona Tututa, also suffered a breakdown when it arrived at the island of Boa Vista.

CV Interilhas is a Cabo Verde's shipowner, set up in 2019, with which the Cabo Verde government has established a 20-year concession contract for the public service of maritime transport of passengers and cargo between islands.

The company is made up of 12 shipowners, including the Portuguese ETE Group, which holds 51% of the share capital (through its subsidiaries Transinsular and Transinsular Cabo Verde), with 11 Cabo Verdean companies holding the rest.

LFO/ADB // ADB.

Lusa