Theo

A 29-year-old fisherman who collided with the guard ship "De Maria" in 2013 was sentenced to 180 hours of community Service by a court on Oct 14, 2016. Three crew members, two Philippines and an Indonesian, had lost their lives. The judge ruled that the fisherman being at the helm had paid insufficient attention to the other ship. Other causes of the collision were excluded: the visibility was good, the sea calm and the equipment in order.

At 1.30 a.m. in the night of Oct 7 the Texel based "Vertrouwen- TX 68" was in collision with the Dutch guard ship "Maria", which was deployed to guard an oil drilling platform about 40 kilometres southwest of the port of Den Helder. The "Maria" sank within 20 minutes in a water depth of 25-30 meters in the vicinity of the drilling platform "Helm -A", which is about 40 kilometers southwest of Den Helder. Two of the five crew members of the "Maria", which were Cape Verdes natives, were rescued by the "Vertrouwen", three more, two Philippinos and one Indonesian, remained missing and were possibly trapped inside the sinking guard ship. They were last seen in a door on the upper deck by the survivors. A search operation including KNRM boats of the stations Den Helder and Egmond aan Zee, Wijk aan Zee and De Cocksdorp, the ZrMs "Snelliu", two helicopters, AB-412 of the Air Base Leeuwarden and a Cougar-transport helicopter of the 300 Squadron, some commercial vessels and five fishing vessels was launched and coordinated by the Dutch Coastguard. The cause of the was is still unknown. The wind on scene was SW 2-3. Divers from the Navy were going to search the wreck. The ZrMs "Cerberus" left the port of Den Helder with half a dozen divers on board heading for the accident site. Around midday they carried out an initial inspection of the wheelhouse from outside without finding hints, but first had to assess the stability of the wreck before penetrating it. The Navy also sent down a ROV for surveys of the wreck. The search on sea was stopped at 3.30 p.m. after the search area had been thoroughly combed several times. The crew of the "Vertrouwen" was questioned by the Dutch Police. Dutch report with photo: http://www.schuttevaer.nl/nieuws/zeevaart/nid19742-opvarenden-uitkijkschip-vermist-op-noordzee.html#

MFV TX-68 collided with Guardvessel MARIA shortly after midnight. MARIA sunk; people apparently still missing.