Magleby-Mo-Wsk

Only the intervention of a fisherman and a pilot prevented a collision between the "Magleby Maersk" and a sailing yacht in the Outer Weser on the night of Sep 1, 2022. At around 11:20 p.m., an emergency call reached the MRCC of the DGzRS in Bremen that single-hand sailor had suffered water ingress in the Weser fairway. At the time, the sailing yacht was northeast of the island of Mellum. The sailor had dropped his anchor, but it dragged, and the boat drifted into the fairway in the dark. The MRCC Bremen immediately alerted the lifeboats 'Hermann Rudolf Meyer' of the DGzRS station in Bremerhaven and the 'Bernhard Gruben' Hooksiel station as well as the surrounding shipping. At the same time, the MRCC was in contact with the Bremerhaven traffic center (Weser-Jade-North Sea waterway and shipping authority), which monitors shipping traffic in the area. This reported that the container ship was approaching. By midnight the sailor stopped responding to radio calls. Meanwhile, the fishing cutter "Christine" from Fedderwardersiel had offered to help while on a fishing trip in the area. The fishermen found the 10-m- yacht, showing only the faint glow of a flashlight. In the meantime, the boat had lost all of the electricity on board due to the flooding. At that time there was a swell of one to two meters with a north-easterly wind of force. In the meantime, the MRCC had also deployed a Navy SAR helicopter as a collision between the "Magleby Maersk" and the sailing yacht could no longer be ruled out. When the lifeboats arrived on site, the fishermen had just managed to establish a towing line to the yacht. The pilot on the container ship had achieved a minimal course change, and the container ship just passed the yacht. The helicopter made another lap and was then released from the mission by the sea rescuers. The sea rescuers went alongside the distressed yacht and handed over a bilge pump to get the water ingress under control. Then they took over the towing line from the cutter and, with constant pumping, set off on the long towing trip towards Hooksiel. In the heavy seas, fenders used to keep the distance between the daughter boat and the sailing yacht burst. To prevent further damage, the 'Bernhard Gruben' took over the distressed vessel once the water ingress was under control. The convoy arrived in Hooksiel with her appendage at around 5.30 a.m. The fishermen meanwhile continued their fishing trip. The sailor survived the accident severely exhausted but unharmed. Report with photos: https://www.seenotretter.de/aktuelles/seenotfaelle/segler-entgeht-knapp-kollision-mit-400-meter-schiff