dpa
Bremen, Germany
One sailor was found dead after two cargo ships collided in the North Sea off the German coast on Tuesday, as the search for four missing seamen continues under difficult weather conditions.
Two other crew members were rescued from the water after one of the freighters sank, a spokesman for the German Sea Rescue Society, Christian Stipeldey, said.
The accident occurred on Tuesday morning about 22 kilometres south-west of the island of Helgoland and 31 kilometres north-east of the island of Langeoog in a high-traffic shipping area.
It is still not clear how the accident occurred.
The two cargo ships Polesie and Verity collided at about 5 am (0300 GMT), causing the Verity with seven people on board to sink.
The Verity freighter was carrying steel, including large sheets of metal, naval rescue authorities said.
Twenty-two people were on board the Polesie, all of them uninjured, according to rescuers.
The 91-metre-long Verity, sailing under the British flag, was on its way from Bremen to Immingham on the British coast.
The 190-metre-long Polesie, under the flag of the Bahamas, was sailing from Hamburg to La Coruña in north-west Spain.
Numerous ships, a German navy helicopter and an aeroplane were deployed to search for the missing.
However, waves of up to three metres, poor visibility and high winds are making the search more difficult.
“It is certainly complex for the units on the ground because the conditions are challenging,” Stipeldey said.
The sky and the sea are almost the same colour in the autumn, he said, which also hampers rescue efforts.
Michael Ippich of the Central Command for Maritime Emergencies in Cuxhaven, which is in charge of the overall rescue operation, said the search area had been adjusted several times, Wreckage had also been found in a north-western direction, he said.
A cruise ship sailing in the area is also supporting search efforts as they have doctors on board who could provide medical care, it said.
Additional medical personnel are to be flown to the accident site by helicopter.
German Transport Minister Volker Wissing expressed his sympathy to the crew members, relatives and rescue teams.
