Inland waterway vessel leaked: water ingress in engine room

A water ingress on a barge in the port of Brake in the district of Wesermarsch has triggered a major operation by the fire department and water police. On Thursday afternoon, the skipper noticed that his ship was deeper in the water than expected, according to the water police. The water in the engine room was almost one meter high. The fire department then arrived with 38 firefighters and pumped out the water with four submersible pumps. The ship was then towed to an unloading point to remove the cargo of 765 tons of rapeseed from the ship.

The waterway police said that this prevented an accident involving the barge, which still had 2500 liters of diesel in its tanks. A crack 10 to 15 centimetres long was discovered on the steel hull of the unloaded ship - the hull was apparently dented during one of the last mooring maneuvers.