A DOOMED ghost ship crewed only by cannibal rats may have finally washed up on a beach – more than 3,000 miles from where it went missing.

MYSTERY SOLVED? Scientists said this wreckage could be the MV Lyubov Orlova

The MV Lyubov Orlova vanished at sea nearly three years ago. The 300ft Russian cruise ship, built 40 years ago in the Soviet Union, has nothing aboard but packs of disease-ridden rodents who are forced to prey on one another to survive. And now scientists have claimed the vessel sunk at sea and its gruesome wreckage was buried in sand on the coast of California.

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Named after a Russian actress, the 4,000-tonne vessel used to carry 110 passengers on cruises for more than 20 years. However, in 2010 it was impounded in Newfoundland, Canada in a row over debts and deserted by her unpaid crew. After two years tied up in port, the decision was taken to tow her to the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean where she would be scrapped.

Among the wrecks are merchant vessels, submarines and ocean liners, with HMS Audacious being the oldest ruin A diver searches among the sunken ocean liner HMS Audacious sank in October 1914 after hitting a German mine All but one of the passengers survived after Titanic's sister ship, the White Star liner Olympic, came to the rescue Also littering the seabed is HMS Viknor, an armed merchant cruiser which sank without sending a distress signal with all 295 Royal Navy officers on board Also littering the seabed is HMS Viknor, an armed merchant cruiser which sank without sending a distress signal with all 295 Royal Navy officers on board Remarkably, the wreck wasn't found until 2006 even though it met its fate on January 13, 1915 and now rests under 86 metres of water The ships were sunk by torpedoes and mines and now lie on the seabed, just off the Irish coast Wreckage of the shipwreck laying at the bottom of the ocean Overview of the wreckage off the coast of Ireland A diver swims along side a huge shipwreck off the North West coast of Ireland A diver swims along side a huge shipwreck off the North West coast of Ireland A diver prepares to explore the surrounds of the shipwreck Amazing shot of a diver exploring the wreckage of the forgotten ships in the Atlantic Ocean These are the forgotten shipwrecks of the Atlantic Ocean dating back to the First World War Divers explore the huge shipwrecks of the Atlantic Ocean

“This ship is thought to have been taken over by hordes of cannibal rats” Scientist But in heavy seas, the tow-line to a tug broke, prompting the Canadian government to send out another ship to drag her far out to sea and release her. Incredibly, the eerie remains of a ship the same length was recently found washed up on a Californian beach. Speaking in a new documentary for Science Channel, scientists said: "This ship is thought to have been taken over by hordes of cannibal rats.

Lilpop, Rau & Loewenstein MISSING: The cruise ship has been lost at sea for three years

"I mean there's nothing else to eat. "So imagine this giant ship full of these ravenous hordes of cannibal rats appearing on your local beach right where you live.” There have been several sightings of the ship since its disappearance.

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