Viking Riverboat Hits Bridge, Two Crewmembers Killed

Hi All,

just saw the newspaper (9/11/2016)

satedaynight at about 1.30h the Viking Freya hit a bridge in Erlangen Germany.

Two crew menbers dead.:eek:

All passengers saved.

Gilbert

I made a thread but I clicked the roll calls...so I will clean that one, here's it:

Last night, around 1.30AM local time, river cruise ship Viking Freya's pilothouse collided with a bridge over the Main-Donau canal in the German city of Erlangen whilst underway to Budapest. Killing two crew members, pax are evacuated.

All passages/ship traffic in Erlangen are on hold.

Sources (German):

http://www.bild.de/news/inland/schiffsunglueck/hotelschiff-erlangen-tote-47763134.bild.html

http://www.infranken.de/regional/erlangenhoechstadt/Hotelschiff-kollidiert-bei-Erlangen-mit-Bruecke-Zwei-Menschen-sterben;art215,2163245

http://reporter-24.com/2016/09/zwei-tote-auf-main-donau-kanal-hotelschiff-rammt-bruecke/

http://www.br.de/nachrichten/mittelfranken/inhalt/havarie-schiff-erlangen-kanal-rhein-main-donau-kanal-tote-100.html (45 images, incl. unblurred pax, viewer discretion advised, lots of damage as the pilothouse deck is entirely demolished)

Dutch source;

http://www.schuttevaer.nl/nieuws/actueel/nid25292-twee-doden-bij-brugaanvaring-viking-freya.html

181 pax, 49 crew onboard, incl. age and nationality of the two killed crewmembers.

Best wishes to those involved!

It is being reported that the Viking Freya rammed a bridge on the Rhine Main Danube canal near Erlangen at 01:30 this morning, two crew members were killed, all 180 passengers are safe and sound. In the accident the wheelhouse was completely destroyed.

Here is a link (in German):

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/havarie-in-bayern-zwei-tote-bei-schiffsunglueck-bei-erlangen-1.3156402

Hello lis1407 and FreestyleNovice,

Thank you for the links. So, so sad. Our American CC people will wake up to some really bad news soon. Needless to say, the Viking Freya will not be able to sail this journey or the next. Will have to see how things unfold.

One does wonder what is happening with those bridges on the Main Danube canal at night. But this is for a later date. Viking has not updated their webpage. Again, this is for later. I am sure Viking is more concerned with the rescue operation and their two poor employees.

A prayer for two men who have lost their lives and two families that have lost a dear person.

notamermaid

P.S.: Have not found any news reports in English yet.

Hello G.M.T.,

Thank you for the link. Our European friends were a little quicker than us and have reported this under the thread hot news. Pehaps we could ask hostjazzbeau to link the two threads when he has got up (and recovered from the news)?

Cannot seem to find a good English report yet. I wonder how long the Canal will be closed.

According to the reports the captain himself was off-duty and the two crew members steered the ship. Looks a tricky section with those two bridges and the approach to the lock.

So sad.

notamermaid

Their growth caused them to hire anyone it seems.

Now for the 3rd time this yr such an incident.

Many photos:

http://www.br.de/nachrichten/mittelfranken/inhalt/schiffsunglueck-rhein-main-donau-kanal-erlangen-100.html

Rest in peace, Captains!:(

If I am correct, this is the third time in a couple of months that a Viking ship is involved. People pay good money for a Viking river cruise, but there are obviously safety issues.

Latest information is that the railings and wheelhouse were not lowered as is standard procedure on the RMD canal. The canal is closed to all traffic.

Hello G.M.T.,

 

Thank you for the link. Our European friends were a little quicker than us and have reported this under the thread hot news. Pehaps we could ask hostjazzbeau to link the two threads when he has got up (and recovered from the news)?

 

Cannot seem to find a good English report yet. I wonder how long the Canal will be closed.

 

According to the reports the captain himself was off-duty and the two crew members steered the ship. Looks a tricky section with those two bridges and the approach to the lock.

 

So sad.

 

notamermaid

There is not only one captain on such a river cruise vessel. Depending on the itinerary, there are at least 2 or 3 proper captains.

Latest information is that the railings and wheelhouse were not lowered as is standard procedure on the RMD canal. The canal is closed to all traffic.

I didnt read anything about the water levels yet. But it looks like even with a lowered wheelhouse it would have been very tight.

There is not only one captain on such a river cruise vessel. Depending on the itinerary, there are at least 2 or 3 proper captains.

True, I just did not point it out. On my cruise they were addressed as captain and second captain, but sometimes the word officer has been mentioned in the reports. In the end they are members of the crew as distinguished from the passengers of a cruise.

And they are perfectly trained and entitled to steer the ship.

notamermaid

Not a great article but in English...

http://archysde.com/bavaria-hotel-ship-bounces-against-the-bridge-two-dead/

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/ship-crashes-into-german-bridge-two-dead/news-story/51b7bfc3ae3e0c2fc8ab557cd9a89712

I didnt read anything about the water levels yet. But it looks like even with a lowered wheelhouse it would have been very tight.

Horrible and sad news. A competent crew should be aware of the water levels and take proper precautions. If the river was indeed too high they should have suspended sailing. I agree this is a troubling pattern involving Viking ships.

Terrible news, but Water levels in the Rhine main canal are controlled by dams...and a water level rise of 3-4 feet may be due to dam malfunction or human error of the canal authority. Yes, captain should have checked depth, but since it's controlled, it's easy to understand why he may not have done so. It will be interesting to follow this....I suspect they will find a cause due to equipment or personnel error of the canal.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Here's our story: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7229

So sad to have to wake up to this.

I have merged the two threads and changed the title to that of the Cruise Critic article (see previous post).

Thank you Erica,

so sad. The news was more or less the first thing I read this morning due to my search criteria on the internet. It is all over the German news sites. According to a spokesperson of the rescue team (all in all 200 from fire brigade, police, river police and a technical rescue team) the wheelhouse should have been lowered down at this section. Other news reports say that there will be a criminal investigation to establish the cause, a technical fault or human error or a combination of both. The two bridges have been inspected and declared safe.

What made the rescue operation dangerous was the fact that there was a live current going through the destroyed wheelhouse at some point.

The passengers had to wait to get off the boat as a make-shift catwalk had to be built first to ensure the passengers could walk off the ship safely.

Psychologists saw to the passengers' emotional needs, but communication was not easy as hardly anybody spoke German and conversations had to be conducted mostly in English.

The canal is closed as the ship has to be towed away, until 2pm local time it had not been established how that would be done.

The report of Erlangen fire brigade can be read in German on facebook.

notamermaid

Two crew members have sadly been killed after Viking Freya collided with a rail bridge.

She's currently sailing a Nuremberg-Budapest cruise.

This is very sad and IMO, is a reflection of Viking's mass production and introduction of too many boats, too quickly.

Not aimed just at your quote, but I think this is probably a time to save uninformed opions until the inquest reports are in.

The authorities will consider all aspects of this accident from the training of the crew on duty to those responsible for maintaining the water level etc. so we will not have to guess as to the reasons for the accident...

If the crew did not have sufficient experience to be on bridge duty in control of the ship then that will be in the report.

Two people have died, let's wait for the professional reports before we start blaming their lack of experience for their own demise as this is going to be very hurtful to their families on top of their natural grief at this time...

Very sad news.

http://news.sky.com/story/two-killed-after-german-cruise-ship-rams-into-bridge-10574294

Sending prayers to the two employee's families. Truly sad.

Actually there are no captains on the rivers but a master and pilots (the pilots and the master do hold the same license).

The Canal has a constant water level and no current. Only in the close vincinty of a lock or any other obstruction there is a current.

You can see pretty clearly on the photos (especially those of BR) that the rails and deck chairs were flattened down.

steamboats

This was one accident just waiting to happen, after the sharp rise in recent incidents.

On the RMD canal, there is very little changes in the water levesl (not like the Danube, which we all know can fluctuate widely, at present it is below average). Also the "current" is negligible.

Most of the cruise ships crews are from Eastern European, why because they are cheaper and their training is much less than rigorous as their German counterparts.

Cruising on the Danube has exploded over the last 10 years, for this year Passau is expecting 2500 ships visits with about 300,000 passengers. Where will it end?

Even if the wheelhouse is supposed to be lowered, you can still see other things on the roof that would have not cleared the two bridges. The antenna and a/c units. Or are those things something else? Either way it's very dangerous just leaving that little clearance.

I offer all due respect and sympathy for those who lost their lives and to their families.:(

That said, I find it heartening that after 3 Viking river ship crashes this year, no passengers (to my understanding) were physically harmed. I'm sure they had unnerving experiences. For me, this speaks well of the ships' design and construction. It makes me feel a bit more secure for my future European trips.

This news is shocking. But, with the growing number of ships and the frequent need for the lowering of the steering cabin it seems not too great a surprise. I think this was an eventual, inevitable occurrence.