Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

54 drowned in Polish ferry disaster

Adrian Bridge
Thursday 14 January 1993 19:02 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A total of 54 people drowned yesterday, despite an international rescue operation, after a Polish ferry capsized in a fierce storm off the north German coast in the early hours of the morning.

By late afternoon, German, Polish and Danish rescue teams said they had picked up only nine survivors from the 63 passengers and crew of the Jan Heweliusz ferry sailing from Ystad in Sweden to Swinoujscie in Poland. All those rescued were flown by helicopter to German hospitals where they were treated for hypothermia after being picked up from the Baltic Sea, where the water temperature was 2C (36F).

Gert Muller-Esch, director of a clinic in Stralsund, said survivors told him the ship had started listing so quickly there had been no time to get the lifeboats out.

Dr Muller-Esch said six of them were in good condition and would leave the hospital today, but a seventh survivor was in critical condition.

German authorities called off a search with ships and helicopters for survivors at 5 pm because of darkness. Police casualty figures appeared to mean that all of the passengers on board had been accounted for, nobody was missing and the search would not have to be resumed today.

Expressing her deep sympathy with all those affected, Hanna Suchocka, Poland's Prime Minister, announced the formation of a special government committee to investigate the disaster and promised help to the relatives of all those who had died.

The Jan Heweliusz, which capsized 18 miles off the German island of Rugen, was a roll-on, roll- off ferry of similar design to the Herald of Free Enterprise which capsized off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge in March 1987 claiming 193 lives.

This latest capsizing tragedy is bound to be used as further ammunition by those pressing for improvements in the design of such vessels which would enable them to stay afloat for much longer when disaster strikes.

Swedish maritime experts expressed astonishment that the Jan Heweliusz, which was carrying 29 lorries and 10 railway carriages, had left Ystad on Wednesday night despite warnings of stormy conditions in the Baltic.

In Stockholm, the Swedish news agency TT said that the ferry, which was built in 1977 and owned by the Polish firm PLO, had capsized on two previous occasions. In August 1982, it keeled over during the loading of railway wagons and lorries in Ystad port, while four years earlier it capsized because of a fault in valves regulating the ballast tanks, TT reported.

The cause of yesterday's disaster was not immediately known, but rescue officials speculated that with winds of up to 100mph, some of the railway carriages aboard may have broken loose from their couplings. In addition to Poles and Swedes, the passengers, many of them lorry-drivers, were believed to include Danes, Germans, Czechs, Hungarians, Norwegians and Turks.

(Map omitted)

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in