Accidents
Freighter collision on the North Sea – search for shipwrecked people
The sea rescue cruiser “Hermann Marwede” coordinates the search on site (archive photo from March 2023). photo
© Jonas Walzberg/dpa
Two freighters collide in the German Bight and one ship sinks. Several people are missing. Numerous boats are now looking for the shipwrecked people – including a cruise ship.
After two cargo ships collided in the German Bight, rescue workers are looking for several missing people. Numerous Ships are in use for this purpose, the responsible accident command in Cuxhaven announced on Tuesday. One person was rescued from the water after the collision. He is now receiving medical care. It is not known how many castaways are being searched for. A spokeswoman for the accident command said that no information could be provided at the moment.
According to the authorities, the cargo ships “Polesie” and “Verity” collided in the German Bight around 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The “Polesie” had 22 people on board. The accident occurred around 22 kilometers southwest of the offshore island of Helgoland and 31 kilometers northeast of the East Frisian island of Langeoog.
A freighter probably sank
The rescue workers assume that the “Verity” sank as a result of the collision. The other freighter, the “Polesie”, is buoyant. It was initially unclear exactly how extensive the damage was and whether cargo might have ended up in the North Sea.
According to the accident command, the 91-meter-long “Verity”, flying the British flag, was on its way from Bremen to Immingham, a port on the English North Sea coast. The ship, built in the Netherlands in 2001, has its home port on the Isle of Man. It belongs to the British-Dutch shipping company Faversham Ships.
The freighter “Polesie” belongs to the Polish shipping company Polsteam Group, which is based in Stettin (Szczecin). This ship is 190 meters long and 28.5 meters wide – significantly larger than the “Verity”. It was built in China in 2009 and flies the Bahamas flag. It had been on its way from Hamburg to La Coruña in northwest Spain since Monday evening. It was initially not known whether and what the freighters had loaded.
Bad weather makes the search difficult
The weather on the coast was hazy on Tuesday morning and visibility from the East Frisian Islands to the North Sea was low. According to the accident command, there were force six winds and waves of up to three meters in the sea area at the site of the accident.
Numerous ships are taking part in the search, including the sea rescue cruisers of the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People (DGzRS): “Hermann Marwede” from Helgoland and the “Bernhard Gruben” from Hooksiel in Frisia. The emergency tug “Nordic” and the pilot tender “Wangerooge” are also in use, as is the water police with a ship. The German Navy took part with a SAR rescue helicopter. Additional sea rescue ships, water police and authorities were on their way to the scene of the accident on Tuesday morning.
Cruise ship helps with the search
The accident command had a sensor aircraft fly over the sea area in order to obtain more detailed information. According to the accident command, the cruise ship “Iona” belonging to the shipping company P&O Cruises, which was traveling near the scene of the accident, was also supporting the search. Shipwrecked people could also receive medical care there – there were several doctors on board, it was said. The rescue workers want to bring additional medical personnel to the scene of the accident by helicopter.
The accident command in Cuxhaven took over overall operational management. In Germany, the authority is responsible for maritime emergency preparedness and accident management on the North and Baltic Seas. It is a joint institution of the federal government and the five northern German federal states. In the event of accidents on the North and Baltic Seas, it plans and organizes help for those injured, for example, in the event of contamination by pollutants and in the event of fires.
The “Pallas” disaster occurred 25 years ago
The accident on the North Sea occurred almost exactly 25 years to the day after one of the largest ship accidents in German history. On October 25, 1998, the Italian timber freighter “Pallas” was en route from Sweden to Morocco when the cargo of timber caught fire off the Danish North Sea coast. The ship drifted into German waters without a driver and ran aground off the island of Amrum. There was a major oil spill, as a result of which many birds died.