Two cargo ships – one British – collide in the Baltic Sea: Two crew feared dead
Rescue underway after two cargo ships – one British – collide, leaving Danish vessel upside down and its two crewmen in the water off of Sweden
Two container ships have collided in Baltic Sea off the coast of southern Sweden British vessel Scot Carrier, en route from Latvia to Scotland, struck Danish ship Karin Hoej, which was sailing from Sweden to Denmark, around 3.30amKarin capsized with at least two people in the water, ‘screams’ heard by rescuersIt is not clear what caused the ships to collide, Sweden’s maritime authority said
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A British cargo ship has collided with a Danish vessel in the Baltic Sea, causing the latter to capsize and leaving at least two crew missing.
The Scot Carrier, registered in the UK, and the Danish Karin Hoej crashed into one-another around 3.30am Monday as they navigated a 25-mile wide stretch of water between the southern tip of Sweden and the Danish island of Bornholm.
Six lifeboats and three helicopters were scrambled to the scene with other nearby vessels racing to help, as search teams said ‘screams’ were heard coming from the water around 4.45am.
But by 9am no signs of life had been found with the two Danish crew still unaccounted for. The crew of the UK ship are all safe.
A Danish container ship, the Karin Hoej, has capsized (bottom of the hull pictured right) in the Baltic Sea after colliding with a British-flagged vessel around 3.30am today
The British ship, the Scot Carrier (pictured centre), is thought to have hit the Karin as the two passed through a 25-mile wide stretch of water between southern Sweden and a Danish island
Rescuers say two Danish sailors aboard the Karin are missing with screams heard coming from the water around 4.45am, but there has been no sign of the pair since
Swedish coastguard said it appears the British vessel has hit the Danish one as the pair sailed in the same direction through the channel in the early hours.
Jonas Franzén, spokesman for the Swedish Maritime Administration which is leading rescue efforts, said it is not yet clear what caused the crash.
Forecasters said weather in the channel was calm but foggy at the time of the crash.
Temperatures were cold – just 4C (39F) in the water and 5C (41F) in the air – putting survival time in the water at around an hour.
Danish rescuers said two people from the Karin are missing and are assumed to have fallen in the water.
Helicopters have scoured the scene several times but have so-far found no trace of the people, Ekstra Bladet reported.
‘I can confirm an accident has happened but I do not know the circumstances,’ Soren Hoj, managing director of Rederiet Hoj which owns the Karin Hoej, added.
The accident happened around 20 miles off the coast of Ystad, in southern Sweden, the the Danish island of Bornholm
The British-flagged Scot Carrier, a 300ft container ship built in 2018, was en route from Latvia to Scotland when it crashed around 3.30am (file image)
Danish-flagged Karin Hoej, a 180ft vessel built in 1977, was sailing from Sweden to Denmark in the same direction as the Carrier when they collided – causing the Karin to capsize (file)
The Karin has now begun leaking oil and will be salvaged and towed to Sandhammar on Sweden’s southern tip, the coast guard said.
Once the vessel has been secured to the shoreline divers will go inside to check for any victims or survivors who might be trapped.
Pictures show the British vessel upright and with its lights on, stationary in the water.
Meanwhile the Danish vessel can be seen overturned with just the underside of its hull visible above the waterline.
The Scot Carrier, almost 300ft long and built in 2018, was en route from Salacgriva in northern Latvia to Montrose in Scotland when the accident happened.
Karin Hoej, built in 1977, was on its way from Södertälje, just south of the Swedish capital Stockholm, to Nykobing Falster in southern Denmark.
Both vessels were sailing in the same direction – east to west – through the 25-mile gap between Sweden’s southern tip and Bornholm island when the crash happened.
The Karin was carrying no cargo at the time of the accident.
