WebreaderShopNewsletter

Rescue missionAccident during ferry crossing - sea rescue app helps with localisation

Jill Grigoleit

 · 25.04.2024

Rescue mission: Accident during ferry crossing - sea rescue app helps with localisationPhoto: DGzRS – ypscollection.de/Peter Neumann
The crew of two and their dog were brought safely to Bremerhaven on board the rescue cruiser "Herrmann Rudolf Meyer"
On the morning of 23 April, the transfer voyage of a motorboat ended for two men and their dog on board the rescue cruiser "Hermann Rudolf Meyer". After both of their ship's engines had failed on the journey from Cuxhaven to Bremerhaven, they had initially tried to alert the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (MRCC Bremen) of the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) via their mobile phones. However, communication was hardly possible due to the poor mobile phone coverage. Their rescue: The SafeTRX app of the sea rescuers had transmitted their position to the rescue coordination centre.

When the distress call was received at around 10.30 a.m., the unmanoeuvrable motorboat was around 7.5 nautical miles north-east of the island of Wangerooge. The emergency services alerted the rescue cruiser "Hermann Rudolf Meyer" stationed in Bremerhaven and neighbouring ships. A federal police helicopter spotted the stricken vessel in the middle of the Nordergründe wind farm. A crew transfer vessel from the wind farm, which was in the vicinity, also set off to secure the motorboat, which had meanwhile dropped anchor.

The rescue cruiser arrived at the scene at around 1 p.m. and launched the daughter boat "Christian" to take the distressed vessel in tow. However, its anchor could not be raised, which is why the sea rescuers first had to cut the anchor chain. The daughter boat established a line connection and initially took the motorboat, whose engines and electrics had failed, in tow. However, due to increasingly visible damage and the impending sinking of the shipwrecked vessel, the sea rescuers decided to transfer the crew to the rescue cruiser and abandon the motorboat.

The crew of two and their travelling dog were brought safely to Bremerhaven. The Wilhelmshaven waterway police began investigating the incident and took over the seizure of the abandoned motorboat.

About SafeTrx

The free SafeTrx safety app uses the iPhone or smartphone's GPS to record the water sports enthusiast's route. This can be called up at the Lake Rescue Coordination Centre in an emergency. When a call is made, the position is also transmitted to the rescue coordination centre at sea. In addition, important information can be stored in a route plan so that SafeTrx is an important source of information for sea rescuers in an emergency, even if the person leaves the mobile coverage area.

Share article:
Jill Grigoleit

Jill Grigoleit

Editor Travel

Jill Grigoleit was born in Hanover in 1985. An early childhood memory is the large collection of YACHT and SURF magazines from her sailing and surfing enthusiast father. However, growing up in a small Swabian village on the Neckar, she had less to do with water sports in her childhood, apart from a few trips to the Baltic Sea with her family. After studying journalism in Bremen and Hanover, she went into television for a few years. Through a few lucky coincidences, she ended up on the water in 2011 and then returned to the written word professionally. For over ten years, she lived with her family on a houseboat in their own harbor south of Hamburg and wrote a book about houseboat building and life with children on the water. Since 2020, she has mainly been writing travel reports and features about people who live and work on and near the water for BOOTE. She has been a permanent member of the Delius Klasing water sports editorial team since January 2024.

Home

Most read in this category