Sweden on Monday arrested two people after a fatal early morning collision between a Danish and a British container vessel off the southern coast of Sweden, prosecutors said.
An investigation was opened into “aggravated drunkenness at sea,” “gross negligence in sea traffic” and “gross causing of death by negligence,” the Swedish Prosecution Service said in a statement.
One of those arrested was a British citizen born in 1991 and the other a Croatian citizen born in 1965, the agency said.
Photo: AFP
For hours, nine boats and a rescue helicopter scoured for two missing crew members following the early morning collision in the waters between the Swedish city of Ystad and the Danish island of Bornholm, Swedish Maritime Administration spokesman Carl-Johan Linde said.
“One of the ships capsized and is upside down,” he added.
At about 10:30am, the maritime authority canceled the search at sea, as the overturned ship, the Danish cargo ship Karin Hoej, was towed closer to shore to enable divers to search inside.
Shortly after 3pm, the authorities decided to cancel the rescue operation, after divers had found a body in the wreck.
“The person is deceased, but the next of kin have not been informed yet,” police spokeswoman Evelina Olsson said.
Rescue boat captain Mats Kellerman had earlier told reporters that the “chance of finding survivors is small,” noting that time had passed and the water was cold.
“The [British cargo ship] Scot Carrier released a smaller boat and looked for people — and they heard screams from the water, but couldn’t find anyone,” Swedish Maritime Administration communications director Jonas Franzen said.
Swedish Sea Rescue Society spokeswoman Emma Valhem said she did not want to speculate on the chances of finding the sailors alive.
With water temperatures of about 4°C, the “situation is critical, right from the start,” she said.
Soren Hoj, a manager for the Danish shipping company operating the vessel, said that there were two people in the crew and they were believed to be the ones missing.
Operations to prevent oil or other hazardous materials from being released into the water were also under way.
“There is currently no ongoing oil spill,” the Swedish coast guard said in a statement.
The waters around Sweden’s southern coast see heavy traffic, as all ships going into the Baltic Sea from the Atlantic need to pass through the strait between Sweden and Denmark.
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