In distress at sea: Rubber dinghy driver falls overboard and dies after being rescued
Leonie Meyer
· 08.02.2023
An angler was travelling with his dinghy on the Unterwarnow near Rostock on Saturday morning when he was apparently thrown overboard by a wave into the water, which was only four degrees cold. The accident occurred near the Rostock fishing harbour.
At around 10.55 a.m., an emergency was reported to the DGzRS's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre on the Warnow, as reported by the DGzRS. A witness, reportedly another angler, had observed from the shore how the dinghy driver fell overboard. The rescue cruiser "Arkona" from Warnemünde was alerted. At the same time, the daughter boat "Caspar" was also on a training trip. Both boats travelled to the scene of the incident. A boat from the Rostock water police and a survey vessel were also called out.
Angler dies in hospital
The sea rescuers arrived at the scene of the accident around ten minutes after the alarm was raised. Just five minutes later, they were able to find the casualty in the water and pulled him on board the daughter boat "Caspar". The sea rescuers immediately initiated resuscitation measures and headed for the fishing harbour. There, the emergency services handed the 45-year-old angler over to the shore rescue service. As the water police announced later that day, the man did not survive the accident and died in hospital.
The police boat was able to recover the man's rubber dinghy. The water police have started an investigation into the circumstances of the accident. According to the "Nordkurier" newspaper, the man was not wearing a lifejacket.
Number of rescue missions down
The number of DGzRS missions fell overall in 2022. In the first ten months of 2022, the rescuers were called out 965 times, compared to 1,155 times in 2021.
The most common reason by far was engines going on strike. The rescuers were called out 379 times (2021:435) for this reason.
The second most common cause of rescue operations was groundings, although these were mainly caused by sailors. Of the total of 281 interventions, only 53 involved motorboat drivers.
In 2022, 87 people had to be rescued from distress at sea. A further 285 (268) were rescued from danger.
