Conference turris::scandia

456.0. "Ferry and cargo ship collide in Baltic Sea" by TLE::SAVAGE () Thu Mar 14 1991 12:19

    From: [email protected]
    Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.trouble,
	clari.news.europe
    Subject: Woman missing after ferry-cargo ship collision in Baltic
    Date: 14 Mar 91 11:41:15 GMT
 
 
	COPENHAGEN, Denmark (UPI) -- Naval rescue vessels searched the
southern Baltic Sea for a woman who was thrown overboard when a Danish
State Railways Ferry and a Finnish cargo vessel collided in heavy fog
early Thursday, Denmark's Naval Operative Command reported.
	"The search continues," said NOC spokesman Capt. Sven Voxtorp.
	Voxtorp said the railway ferry Dronning Margrethe, with 30 passengers
and 14 crew on board, was involved in a collision with the Finnish cargo
vessel Bore Brittanica just after 4 a.m. in the Femern Belt in southern
Denmark.
	The Dronning Margrethe had been on its way from the German port of
Puttgarden to Rodby in southern Denmark.
	"Visibility was almost zero," said Danish State Railway spokesman
Erling Olesen but would not otherwise comment on the collision.
	Denmark's State Radio reported that the female crewmember -- a ship's
attendant -- was thrown overboard from her station in the ferry
supermarket where the collision had taken place.
	All 30 passengers on board the ferry were transferred unharmed to
another vessel after the collision and transported to Rodby Harbour,
where they were being questioned by police.
	Voxtorp said there were no precise details on the cause of the
collision and that a minor fire that broke out on board the Dronning
Margrethe had been extinguished. He added the vessel was at anchor
outside Rodby Harbor and a relief crew was being taken to the ferry.
	There was little or no damage to the Finnish cargo vessel, which
continued its voyage to the German port of Kiel.