It was one of 517 to fall from the deck on the Bay of Biscay during storms earlier this month.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is arranging recovery of the Maersk container which landed in the early hours today (Sunday) but have been delayed by the high tide.

Police officers who have cordoned off the beach have issued a stern warning to anyone hoping to pick up a free packet of soggy cigarettes.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said “At the moment the container is still in shallow water and is floating, so is not accessible.

“We will wait to see if it does come ashore with the high tide or float off again, but the police and the MCA were expecting it, and arrangements are in place to recover it.

“It was reported by a member of the public at 8.10am this morning and officers are on scene to make sure no one puts themselves at risk to recover anything.

“The contents belong initially to the original owner of the container, and then to the official Receiver of Wrecks, so anyone taking anything that washes ashore, even one packet of cigarettes, is effectively committing theft and will be prosecuted.

“If challenged by police at the scene, they have no option but to hand back what they have recovered.

“So the message to anyone intending to go down there looking for free fags is don’t bother.”

The 1998 built ship was reportedly heading from Rotterdam to Sri Lanka when the containers toppled into the sea after it was caught in a fierce storm on February 14.

It is understood they fell into the water when six compartments of the ship, known as ‘bays’, tilted over as winds forced the ship to roll up to 40 degrees.

None of the crew was injured, but it is reported to be the biggest loss of containers that Maersk has ever suffered.

It is thought some of the containers were empty and many have already sunk.

The police spokesman added “We’re told most of them would have sunk or washed up in France, but this was one that bobbed its way all the way to here,” said the police spokesman.

“The police and the MCA were expecting it, we just did not know where on the coast it would arrive.”

The MCA said two more containers have been spotted bobbing towards the UK.

Simon Porter, MCA salvage officer, said “We have been carrying out extensive searches over the last four days and spotted three containers, one of which has come ashore and the other two are mid Channel.

“We are now working closely with Maersk to ensure they recover their containers, which are their property.”

Unique danger to e-cigarettes – kctv5

Cheap+cigarettes&find_loc=brooklyn%2c+ny san francisco
KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV)

Some call them the “safe alternative” to smoking, but they come with a danger that&#39 s put some people in the hospital.

We&#39 re talking about electronic, or e cigarettes.

They&#39 re made to look like the real thing, but instead of burning a smoke, users inhale a vapor, then refill them with liquids that often come in bright colors and flavors, like strawberry and bubble gum.

Experts at the University of Kansas Hospital say the refills are just too attractive to children and swallowing them can be dangerous.

In a smoke filled room on Broadway Street in Sinbad&#39 s Hookah Lounge, friends shared a hookah Thursday afternoon and, with a closer look, you could see a smaller nicotine doser passing around too an e cigarette.

“They taste better, I feel like they&#39 re better for you. Smoking regular cigarettes, you&#39 re constantly coughing,” said Dillon Allmon.

E cig smoker Lizzie Lake added, “You can put different kinds of juices in them, some have flavor.”

But those juices, the e cigarette refills, are causing problems of their own. They each come with a different level of nicotine, and sometimes people don&#39 t realize the potency.

“Some are pretty low, but some can be really high, high enough that in those bottles there&#39 s enough to kill children and some there&#39 s enough to kill adults, if you were to absorb all of it,” said Dr. Stephen Thornton, medical director at the University of Kansas Hospital&#39 s Poison Control Center.

It&#39 s a problem toxicologists like Thornton have started tracking carefully. The University of Kansas Hospital Poison Control Center took 24 calls of e cigarette poisoning for the whole state from 2013 through now. Eleven of those were children. One adult died from injecting the refill liquid.

The Missouri Poison Center has tracked 64 e cigarette poisonings in that same time. Twenty nine were young children.

Kids are winding up with nausea and vomiting after swallowing the refill liquid.

“Sometimes colored solutions that are flavored, that are in little bottles, that aren&#39 t necessarily child proof,” Thornton said.

And he said they&#39 re not regulated yet by the FDA, so it&#39 s not entirely clear what&#39 s in them.

That&#39 s leading to some more questions back at Sinbad&#39 s Hookah Lounge.

“I could definitely see how that could make someone sick because if you refill it too much and it gets on the mouthpiece, it burns your mouth from the nicotine,” Lake said, though she&#39 s not ready to blow them off just yet.

The Federal Drug Administration is considering new e cigarette regulations that could limit the concentrations of nicotine in refills, and make sure the bottles are child proof. Until then, be aware of how powerful they can be and keep them away from children.

Copyright 2014 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved.