Hungarian ship sank in Germany, crew barely escaped

Two Hungarian nationals were on board a Hungarian cargo ship sinking on Friday near Regensburg. The two men survived only thanks to their composure. They reached the bank of the Danube River on a dinghy. Here are the details.

According to index.hu, the cargo ship sank at 1.25 PM near Regensburg in the Geisling floodgate. The reason is unknown, the barge carried iron ore and is 85 meters long. According to iho.hu, its name is Achim and it was built in Germany in 1957.

The floodgate has been closed, and authorities are now doing the rescue work. German river authorities, experts, local fire departments and professionals of the boat company concerned are now doing their job on the spot. At the moment, they do not know the extent of the damage.

On board were two Hungarian men, the captain (61) and the steersman (64). They got away on a dinghy. But both fell into the water, so they were taken to hospital due to hypothermia. Furthermore, water was in the lungs of the 64-year-old steersman.

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The sunken ship is not visible in the floodgate, which is 11 metres deep. However, it got under in just 5 minutes, Wolfgang Scheurer, the local fire department’s spokesman, said.

Based on press information, a large amount of oil leaked into the water of the floodgate. But since it was closed tightly, it would not get out into the River Danube. Stuttgarter-nachrichten.de wrote that the property damage is considerable. The amount will be a seven-digit number in euros. That is because the authorities must raise the cargo vessel and clean the floodgate, which costs a lot of money.

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Source: index.hu