Barge and yacht collide on Prinses Margrietkanaal near Warten; Two rescued

A barge and a yacht collided Monday afternoon on the Prinses Margrietkanaal near the village of Warten, leaving two people in the water and forcing a full closure of the busy waterway, emergency officials, Fyslân Veilig, said.

The collision happened around 2:30 p.m. near the Fonejachtbrug. Firefighters pulled two occupants of the yacht from the canal and took them to a hospital. Their conditions have not been released.

Photos from the scene showed the yacht overturned in the water. According to Omrop Fryslân, emergency crews, including divers, worked at the site while multiple agencies coordinated the response.

The barge involved in the collision, built in 2001 and measuring 86 meters long, was traveling from Groningen to Lelystad at the time of the incident.

Rijkswaterstaat confirmed that the Prinses Margrietkanaal has been closed to all shipping traffic since the crash. It remains unclear how long the closure will last. “That depends on how long the investigation takes,” a spokesperson said.