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Tuesday April 3 11:13 AM ET Canada Sends British Ship Home Due to Foot-Mouth

QUEBEC CITY (Reuters) - A British ship was directed home from the Canadian port of Quebec City on Tuesday with its cargo only partially unloaded due to fears of foot-and-mouth disease, port authorities said.

The ship, the Bart 10, was carrying military equipment for 5,000 British soldiers on training exercises at the Suffield army base in the western province of Alberta.

Some of the equipment was unloaded but food inspectors touring the ship said the presence of mud on some military vehicles was sufficient reason to fear contamination by foot-and-mouth disease, which is causing the devastation of livestock herds in Britain.

``They asked authorities to send the ship back to England and the ship is on its way back as we speak,'' Quebec City port spokesman Patrick Robitaille said.

Robitaille said the ship carried a crew of 25 and had been stuck at Quebec City, a main port of entry to Canada from Europe, since March 27.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), April 03, 2001