- A cruise ship crashed into a concrete wall along the Danube in Austria on Friday.
- According to a police statement, “the vessel was suddenly no longer able to maneuver.”
- 11 people were hospitalized and 6 others were slightly injured.
A Bulgarian cruise ship carrying more than 140 passengers has crashed into a concrete wall along the Danube River in Austria.
The incident occurred late on March 29 in Aschach an der Donau, a town in northern Austria, local police said Saturday.
Eleven people were injured and taken to hospital following the accident. Six others suffered less serious injuries that did not require hospital treatment.
The ship had departed from Passau, a German town on the Austrian border, but further down the river, upon leaving the lock chamber, “the ship was no longer able to maneuver” and its right bow and its left stern crashed into the lock. walls, we read in the press release.
The ship’s second-in-command, who was at the helm during the crash, “pressed the emergency switch, after which the electronics restarted.” He was then able to steer the ship out of the lock.
The vessel was then moored to the quay wall and emergency services were notified.
The exact cause of the temporary loss of direction is unclear. The ship was able to continue its route to Linz, Austria.
An Austrian police statement said the collision was linked to an electronic fault on the ship.
After the ship crashed, “The ship’s second captain, who was at the helm at the time, immediately pressed the emergency switch, after which the electronics restarted and he was able to steer the ship out of the lock,” it says. the police press release.
He added: “After checking the ship, it turned out that the electronics were working again after the emergency switch was reset, which is why the ship was able to continue its journey.”
The Dali crashed on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26 after a power outage. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Earlier this week, a container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, collapsing a section of the 1.6-mile-long structure and killing six construction workers.
Citing the data recorder recovered from the container ship, officials said power was out on the Dali for just one minute and three seconds approaching the bridge, Sky News reported, but it was enough for the collision to become inevitable.
In 2023, in the worst disaster on the Danube in more than half a century, a cruise ship collided with and sank a smaller boat, killing 25 South Korean tourists and two crew members. The captain was sentenced to five years in prison in Hungary for his role in the accident.
The Danube is the second largest river in Europe. It crosses central and southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south to the Black Sea. Cruise ships on the river attract a large number of tourists every year.
businessinsider
