According to the accident command, around 120 emergency services were deployed. Bodo Marks/dpa
The day after the fire on a tanker loaded with oil on the Baltic Sea, the search for the cause begins. Fire investigators will be on board as soon as possible. Divers should also check the hull of the ship. The Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation routinely intervenes after accidents. The ship was towed into the Rostock harbor on Saturday night, where it moored at 1 a.m.
The fire broke out early in the morning on the tanker “Annika,” which caught fire on the Baltic Sea off Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The German emergency command announced that the fire on the ship was extinguished in the Rostock overseas port. Around 120 emergency services were deployed. The emergency command completed overall operations management during the night.
“The final check is currently being carried out to determine whether there are still any embers. In principle, one can assume that the fire on board has been extinguished,” said Michael Allwardt, acting head of the Rostock fire department.
The spokesman for the German Emergency Command, Benedikt Spangardt, was satisfied with how the operation went. Three fire departments were involved, from Kiel, Lübeck and Rostock. “The matter turned out well in the sense that no one was seriously injured, the crew is OK and we have no water pollution or oil spills in the Baltic Sea.”
The 73 meter long “Annika” caught fire on Friday morning about 4.5 kilometers from Heiligendamm. During the night it was still unclear where the fire had started. “During the operation it was not clear where the fire had started. In addition to the engine room, a warehouse for paints and varnishes was also considered as a possible source of the fire,” says the accident command’s statement from early in the morning.
The police investigation should provide information about this and the cause of the fire. The deck superstructure with the bridge and the engine room are also located in the rear area, where, according to initial information, the fire broke out.
Specialized firefighters on board
Multi-purpose ships and a sea rescue cruiser cooled the tanker with large amounts of water and fought the fire from the outside. Firefighters trained for operations at sea were finally able to go on board and help prepare the towing trip to Rostock. In the city’s harbor, the last flames inside the ship were to be extinguished.
The “Annika”, which sails under the German flag, is loaded with around 640 tons of oil. The ship was on its way from Rostock to Travemünde. Among other things, it is used to supply larger ships with fuel. According to previous information from the Schwerin Ministry of the Environment, no water contamination has occurred so far.
Injured sailors released from hospital
The German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People (DGzRS) brought the seven crew members ashore. According to the incident command, several people were slightly injured. They were able to leave the hospital that evening.
Immediately after the accident, politicians and associations expressed their concerns about environmental risks posed by tanker traffic on the busy Kadet channel between Germany and Denmark. According to initial findings, the cargo hold of the twelve-meter-wide double-hull tanker was not affected. The ship will be examined by divers to check whether the hull has been damaged.
Within sight of the coast
The accident occurred within sight of the heavily touristy coast between Warnemünde and Kühlungsborn. The head of the state tourism association, Tobias Woitendorf, said, “This is a situation that we are always afraid of in tourism.”
