Early on Tuesday morning, a British cargo vessel Verity collided with the cargo vessel Polesie some 22 kilometres southwest of the island of Helgoland in the North Sea. According to the information from the German Command for Maritime Emergencies (Havarienkommando), Verity sank as a result of the collision.

According to the information, Polesie was heading from Hamburg to La Coruña in Spain while Verity was on its way from Bremen to Immingham in the United Kingdom. The emergency command has taken over the operational management of the situation, rescuing one person at the start of the search for the shipwreck. Polesie, on the other hand, with 22 people onboard remained afloat.

Currently involved in the search and rescue are Hermann Mawede and Bernhard Gruben of the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS), the emergency tug Nordic, the pilot tender Wangerooge, the water police boat Sylt and a SAR helicopter Sea King of the German Navy.

The sea rescue cruiser Hermann Mawede is currently coordinating the search on site.

Anneliese Kramer (DGzRS), the Atair (Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency), the multi-purpose ship Mellum (Waterways and Shipping Administration) and the water police boat W 3, as well as the cruise ship Iona are supporting the search.

One casualty confirmed, four missing

German Command for Maritime Emergencies added that two people since the collision have been rescued with one casualty confirmed.

There were a total of seven people on board the Verity. Four people are still missing and the search for them is ongoing.

Read also: Search for seafarers missing after collision yields no results so far