New Gaddafi inspired cruise ship has bite

A ship designed by a son of former Libyan tyrant Muammar Gaddafi, which comes complete with a tank containing six sharks, is to be turned into a cruise liner, according to reports. Colonel Gaddafi’s fourth son Hannibal, the head of the country’s maritime industry during his father’s rule, commissioned the vessel for his father to use to entertain up to 3,500 guests in one sitting. Interiors included marble pillars, gold-framed mirrors and giant statues, with the centerpiece being a 120-tonne chamber filled with seawater and containing two sand tiger sharks, two white sharks and two blacktip reef sharks. Following Gaddafi’s removal from power, his 36-year old son fled to Algeria and the vessel, known as the Phoenicia, was completed and sold to cruise ship operators MSC for a reported GBP£460m (US$728m). “I personally don’t know why, but he wanted a shark tank,” Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC’s chief executive, told The Financial Times newspaper. The ship’s new owners have decided to remove some of the more lavish interiors, including Hannibal’s highly prized shark tank.