Two missing in cold Baltic waters after Danish, British boats collide By Reuters

By Anna Ringstrom and Nikolaj Skydsgaard

STOCKHOLM/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A Danish cargo vessel capsized off Sweden early on Monday after colliding with a British cargo ship in in a single day fog, with two crew members lacking within the Baltic Sea’s freezing waters.

The 55-metre Karin Hoj barge and 90-metre Scot Provider had been crusing in the identical route once they hit one another at midnight at 3.30 a.m. (0230 GMT) in Swedish territorial waters, maritime businesses in Denmark and Sweden mentioned.

A search-and-rescue operation involving at the least 9 boats and a helicopter close to the location off the Danish island of Bornholm was referred to as off by late morning because the overturned Karin Hog was towed away in waters stuffed with wreckage.

The Danish Meteorological Institute mentioned the fog was not dense and such circumstances had been “commonplace” at the moment of 12 months. Sweden’s Coastguard mentioned an investigation was trying into attainable “gross negligence” behind the catastrophe.

With occasions seeming to have unfolded quick, Denmark’s Joint Operations Centre (JOC) mentioned there was no signal lifeboats or different emergency tools had been utilized by the Karin Hoj’s two-person crew. Water temperature is about 4-6 Celsius within the space.

“I can verify an accident has occurred however I have no idea the circumstances,” Soren Hoj, managing director of Rederiet Hoj which owns the Karin Hoj, advised Reuters.

The barge was crusing from Sodertalje in Sweden to Nykobing Falster in southern Denmark.

The opposite ship, the 90-metre, British-registered Scot Provider, was practical and its crew had been secure.

COLLISIONS RARE

Danish authorities mentioned the captain has been subjected to an alcohol take a look at as a normal process, which might be delivered to Swedish police. The Scot Provider was crusing from Hargshamn north of Stockholm to Montrose on Scotland’s east coast, based on Refinitiv Eikon information.

Its proprietor Scotline mentioned it couldn’t touch upon particulars however was helping native authorities.

The Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) mentioned the Danish vessel was empty of cargo and it was unclear what if any the British ship was carrying.

The SMA mentioned at round 1000 GMT it had concluded its seek for the 2 lacking crew members on the website of the collision and that additional efforts could be taken to find them as soon as the capsized ship had been towed nearer to land.

The waters between Sweden and Denmark see giant quantities of maritime site visitors. Collisions are uncommon although in 2006 a small Danish vessel sank after a collision with a Swedish vessel, with all of the crew rescued alive after bailing overboard.