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Baltic Ace wreck: Dutch coastguards find fifth body | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Dutch coastguards have found a fifth body following the sinking of the Baltic Ace cargo ship in the North Sea. | |
Thirteen people were rescued on Wednesday, but six more of the ship's 24-man crew remain missing following the collision with a container ship. | |
A spokesman said the chance of finding anyone alive was "virtually zero" and the search has been called off. | |
The accident took place off the coast of Belgium and the Netherlands, after the Baltic Ace sailed from Zeebrugge. | The accident took place off the coast of Belgium and the Netherlands, after the Baltic Ace sailed from Zeebrugge. |
The search for the missing crew resumed at dawn. The coastguard said a helicopter crew saw the lifeless body of one man floating in the water. | |
Spokesman Peter Westenberg said three boats from the Royal Dutch Sea Rescue Organisation, two navy vessels, four helicopters and one coastguard aircraft had been used in the rescue. Strong winds and high seas made search conditions difficult. | |
The Polish embassy in the Netherlands has said that 11 of the 24 crew were from Poland. Six of them, including the captain, have been rescued. | |
The rest of the crew came from the Philippines, Ukraine and Bulgaria. | |
Life rafts found | Life rafts found |
The 148-metre (485-foot) Baltic Ace was sailing under a Bahamas flag and carrying cars from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Kotka in Finland. | The 148-metre (485-foot) Baltic Ace was sailing under a Bahamas flag and carrying cars from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Kotka in Finland. |
Its 24 crew abandoned ship as it sank quickly after colliding with the Cyprus-registered container ship, the Corvus J, sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to the Belgian port of Antwerp. | Its 24 crew abandoned ship as it sank quickly after colliding with the Cyprus-registered container ship, the Corvus J, sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to the Belgian port of Antwerp. |
The 134-metre Corvus J is said to be damaged but not in danger of sinking. All 12 crew members are still on board. | |
The managers of the Baltic Ace said he thought human error was to blame for the collision, which occurred at 18:15 GMT on Wednesday.. | |
Panagiootis Kakoliris, operations manager at Stamco Ship Management, told the Reuters news agency that the ship was carrying 1,400 Mitsubishi cars. | |
The shipping lane where the accident happened is one of the busiest in the North Sea, about 100km (60 miles) from Europe's busiest port, Rotterdam. | The shipping lane where the accident happened is one of the busiest in the North Sea, about 100km (60 miles) from Europe's busiest port, Rotterdam. |
But a spokesman for the port said its activities would not be affected by the collision. | But a spokesman for the port said its activities would not be affected by the collision. |
The last fatal accident off Dutch waters was in 1994, according to Zero-meridean.nl, a website that uses public information to track disasters and emergencies with links to the Netherlands. | |
All six crew on board a British fishing vessel, the Larissa, died following a collision with a Maltese-flagged tanker. |