Video: All six safely rescued from water taxi in collision with Rotterdam tour boat

All six people who were on a water taxi were rescued from the water after the vessel collided with a tour boat near the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, said a spokesperson for the Rotterdam-Rijnmond Security Region. The taxi boat captain and five passengers, including one child, were saved. They were all taken to an area hospital for observation. Nobody was on board the water taxi when it eventually sank.

A live streaming webcam showed how the water taxi passed under the bridge on an oblique path and ended up exactly in front of the bow of the Spido tour boat sailing straight ahead. The smaller boat was rammed, and disappeared under the water.

A massive amount of emergency services personnel was present at the scene. As a result, the shipping route was blocked, according to the safety office.

Collisions are becoming more common on the Nieuwe Maas in Rotterdam. In 2019, a 56-year-old woman from Belgium was killed as a result. She was in a dinghy, which was rammed by a rubber speedboat. Eleven other people on board also fell into the water. One of them was permanently disabled as a result of the accident.

The skipper who caused the collision was sentenced to community service. In May 2018, a water taxi and a sloop also collided. All those on board the sloop fell into the water. Both skippers were fined by authorities.