Early Tuesday morning, two cargo ships collided in German waters, southwest of the island of Heligoland in the North Sea. In the accident, the Verity, a British ship with seven crew members on board, sank. Immediately, significant search resources were sent to the area, operations being coordinated by the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons (DGzRS). A mobilization which made it possible to rescue two sailors and recover the body of another before midday. The search continued until late at night from Tuesday to Wednesday to try to find the four other missing sailors.
According to the DGzRS, the water temperature, measured at 12 degrees, should theoretically allow the men who fell into the water to survive around twenty hours. However, the weather conditions in the area of the shipwreck were poor, with a wind of 5 to 6 and lows of between one and two meters.
Searches will not resume this Wednesday
On the surface, the resources deployed yielded nothing despite two careful searches of the entire shipwreck area. Divers were also sent to explore the wreck of the Verity which was lying at a depth of 30 m. In vain. Tuesday evening, with the arrival of night and the deterioration of weather conditions, operations were suspended. “Surface searches will not resume today,” declared the DGzRS this Wednesday morning, specifying that “the intervention command will decide in the morning what measures can be taken near the accident site in the daytime “.
In view of a further deterioration in the weather, with showers, a wind of force 6 and waves of three meters, and although the accident occurred twenty-eight hours ago, the emergency services no longer had to hope of finding the four missing alive. For a crew of seven sailors, the toll was heavy with two survivors, one proven dead and four missing.