A container ship owned by the same company as the Ever Given was turned away from Asian ports after its captain died on board 2 months ago

• The captain of the Ital Libera container ship died in April during a COVID-19 outbreak on board.
• The ship was subsequently turned away from multiple Asian ports.
• It is now sailing to the captain's home country of Italy to repatriate his body.

A container ship owned by the same company as the Ever Given - the ship that blocked the Suez Canal - is sailing back to Italy this week, nearly two months after its captain died on board and the ship was turned away from multiple ports in Asia.

According to the maritime news site gCaptain, the Ital Libera container ship works the Far East to South Africa Express, delivering shipments between South Africa and ports in China and Taiwan.

It's owned by Italia Marittima, a subsidiary of the Evergreen Marine Corporation, the company that owns the Ever Given.

The ship brought on a new captain and crew before setting off from Durban, South Africa, on April 1, and within days a number of crew members became sick in what appeared to be a COVID-19 outbreak on board, according to the Maritime Executive.

Captain Angel Capurro, 61, is believed to have died on board on April 13, according to Italy's ANSA news agency.

Capurro tested negative for the coronavirus before getting on the ship, and traveled to Durban via Doha, Qatar, and Johannesburg, South Africa, according to the Maritime Executive.

When Capurro died a decision was made to divert the ship to the port of Jakarta for a 14-day quarantine, according to gCaptain.

After the quarantine was over, Italian officials wanted to fly the captain's body back to Italy, but no Asian ports allowed anyone get off the boat, Maritime Executive reports.

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was said to have been turned down by Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines, and South Africa.

For that reason, a decision was made for the ship to sail to Italy to return the captain's body, according to a June 7 update from the Hapag-Lloyd shipping company, a partner of Evergreen.

Hapag-Lloyd said the ship will return to its Far East service, but dates on when are yet to be determined, according to gCaptain.

As of Thursday, the Ital Libera was sailing in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, according to the shipping tracker AIS.