Lord Selkirk II cruise ship will soon be dismantled

The retired cruise ship MS Lord Selkirk II will soon be dismantled, according to the company hired to take apart the deteriorating vessel and longtime eyesore in Selkirk, Man.

Toronto-based Global Scrap Solutions will cut up the MS Lord Selkirk II's rusted remains and remove them from the slough at Selkirk Park, where the ship has been parked for the past 22 years.

But asuspicious fire on the ship's upper deck on June 19has kept crews from beginning the dismantling process, says company president David Hammer.

Now that almost all the water used to extinguish the blaze has been pumped out, Hammer saidhis crews will get on board the MS Lord Selkirk II in the coming days.

"We will begin the abatement process in the next week or so, and then once that's all cleaned up, then we can start salvaging. We can start cutting it up," he said Thursday in an interview on CBC's Radio Noon program.

"We're going to have to take on greater safety precautions because the integrity of the ship's been compromised due to the heat and the buckling of some of the steel floor," he added.

Scrap metal from the ship will be taken to a local mill, Hammer said.

Built in 1969 in Selkirk, the 176-foot steel passenger vessel was owned by various companies and individuals until 2010, when it was slated to be taken apart for scrap.