Cargo ship loses five containers near Wadden islands

Cargo ship OOCL Rauma lost five containers in the North Sea, north of Ameland on Tuesday afternoon. The responding Coast Guard spotted three containers floating in the water, one of which was open. Rolls of paper was floating around it, RTL Nieuws reports.

The ship was en route from Kotka in Finland to Rotterdam. The skipper himself reported the lost cargo to the Coast Guard, which deployed an auxiliary ship and a airplane to search for the lost containers. Darkness fell before the containers could be retrieved. The search will continue on Wednesday.

Last year the MSC Zoe lost 342 containers in the North Sea, causing a natural disaster that cost millions of euros to clean up. Hundreds of thousands of kilograms of products ended up in the sea and washed up on the Wadden Islands.

The difference now is that Tuesday's accident happened during daylight hours, and the skipper immediately reported it, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard said to RTL Nieuws.

Foto's van het schip op zee en containers in het water. Gemaakt door het #Kustwachtvliegtuig. pic.twitter.com/5ZjtJeIRng

— Kustwacht Nederland (@Kustwacht_nl) February 11, 2020

In drie containers zat papier/karton. Van de andere twee wordt dit nog uitgezocht. Guardian heeft technische problemen en vaart terug naar Den Helder. Aan scheepvaart wordt navigatiebericht gestuurd met laatst bekende posities en uit te kijken voor de containers. pic.twitter.com/TGIp4U0QMR

— Kustwacht Nederland (@Kustwacht_nl) February 11, 2020