Ships collide in Baltic Sea

Two cargo ships registered in Denmark and Britain have collided on Monday in the Baltic Sea, the Danish and Swedish authorities have reported. Two people are missing after the incident.

The collision happened in Danish waters in an area between Denmark’s island of Bornholm and Sweden’s southern Skane County, according to the Joint Operations Center of the Danish Armed Forces. The two ships were sailing in the same direction when they came into contact sometime around 3:30am local time.

The Danish ship was identified as the Karin Hoej by the Swedish Maritime Administration. She had capsized and was upside down after the collision, both sides said. Aboard the ship were two crew members whose status was not known, according to the Danish report.

The British ship, the Scot Carrier, was reported as functional and its crew safe.

A representative of the shipping company Rederiet Hoj, which owns the Karin Hoej, said their vessel was not loaded and sailed from Sodertalje in Sweden to Nykobing Falster in southern Denmark.

Rescue services of the two nations have launched boats and a helicopter to search for the missing sailors. The Danish Meteorological Institute said there was thick fog in the area at the time of the incident.

Rescue officials said the capsized ship started leaking fuel. The plan is to tow it closer to the Swedish coast before starting a salvage operation.

The Karin Hoej is a 55m long self-propelled hopper barge, which was built in 1977. The Scot Carrier is a 90m general cargo vessel built in 2018. The British-flagged ship has a deadweight of 4,700 tons – almost 10 times greater than the barge it collided with.