Four hikers were caught by the rising tide off the coast of the Zeeland village o Renesse on Thursday. A 45-year-old woman from Vilvoorde, Belgium, drowned. Her two children aged 17 and 8, and a 23-year-old woman from Renesse were injured, NOS reports.
The Dutch woman and her three dogs, and the Belgian woman and her son and daughter were walking on Verklikkerstrand when they got stuck on a sandbank by the rising tide. According to the police, they did not know each other.
The Ministry of Defense deployed 100 soldiers to assist in cleaning up sea containers and their content that washed ashore on the Wadden Islands. Some 270 containers fell from cargo ship MSC Zoe near Germany during the early hours of Wednesday morning. Around 35 containers washed ashore on the Wadden Islands. Friesland and Groningen on the mainland also found containers and their content, NU.nl reports.
The soldiers will start cleaning up the beaches on the Wadden Islands on Friday. Some soldiers had to come back from their Christmas holidays to help, according to the newspaper.
Dutch rescue organization KNRM searched for hours for a missing crew member of a ship anchored off the coast or Rotterdam on Tuesday. Multiple lifeboats, helicopters and a Coast Guard plane were deployed in the search, but the man was not found.
After three hours of searching, the Coast Guard decided to halt the search. "The person was unfortunately not found. Given the circumstances, the chance of survival is zero." The KNRM calculated that the man could survive two hours in the icy water.
The Dutch coast guard is keeping an eye out for a sailing yacht that asked for help on the North Sea on Thursday night. After searching for the ship for hours and finding nothing on Thursday, the coast guard is no longer actively searching for the yacht, though they will keep a close eye out during the daily flight along the coast, NOS reports.
An hours long search for a missing boy on the IJsselmeer had a happy ending on Monday night. The 13-year-old from Urk was found alive and well on Houtribdijk near IJsselmeer, the Coast Guard said on Twitter.
The boy took a sloop onto the IJsselmeer from Urk early on Monday evening, according to NU.nl. When he did not return home, a large search involving a helicopter and multiple lifeboats from rescue organization KNRM was launched. The coast guard, a few fishing cutters, the fire brigade and the police also helped in the search.
Warm summer weather had many Dutch seeking to cool down in the water this weekend. But that did not work out well for everyone. A man drowned in Amsterdam, in Hoofddorp a 4-year-old was resuscitated and rushed to hospital after being removed from a lake, a woman disappeared underwater in Nuenen, and two people are missing in Noordwijk.
A sperm whale was spotted in the North Sea, just off the coast of Den Helder on Monday morning. By Monday evening the whale was still in the same area. According to SOS Dolfijn, the animal is likely disoriented or sick and weakened, the rescue organization said on its website.
The whale was first spotted by crew members of a ship off the coast near Julianadorp around 7:30 a.m. The Coast Guard took a photo and sent it to SOS Dolfijn, who identified it as a sperm whale.
Four dead bodies were found on the north-east shore of Curaçao on Wednesday. The coast guard identified the bodies as two men and two women from Venezuela who tried to emmigrate without permission and reach Curaçao by boat. A family relative of the victims told the news agency Reuters that the boat they were traveling on was carrying too many people, and a big wave broke the boat in two.
Dutch firefighters had their hands full battling forest fires in the Noord-Brabant nature area Mariapeel and on Terschelling during the early hours of Friday morning. The fires in both areas are now under control, with occasional flare-ups. Firefighters and the Forestry Commission are monitoring the areas, keeping the edges around the fires wet so it can't spread, Omroep Brabant and NOS report.
Every month hundreds of suspicious seafaring ships enter Dutch waters without being checked, AD reports based ona data analysis made by maritime information company Winward. The ships change their identification numbers or turn off their GPS systems to hide which ports they came from, according to the newspaper.
"Such actions can be an indication of illegal activity", Ami Daniel, director of Winward, said to the newspaper.
Three members of the Rescue Brigade were rescued themselves on Wednesday night when their boat capsized off the Zeeland coast. They called the Coast Guard themselves, who sent a helicopter to search for them.
Two men were arrested in Barendrecht on Tuesday in connection with the discovery of 1,200 kilograms of cocaine on a fishing boat in January. The men, a 41 year old from Winschoten and a 45 year old from Oldambt, are suspected of large-scale drug smuggling
The body of a 76 year old German pilot, whose small plane crashed into the North Sea near Petten on Monday, was found off the coast of Schoorl on Wednesday
On Wednesday the rescue brigade and coast guard searched the sea in Zandvoort for hours in vain for a swimmer who had disappeared into the water. The search was called of around 11:00 p.m. and relaunched this morning. The Coast Guard believed that the around 20 year old woman has drowned.
The Rijkswaterstaat has identified the red substance floating in the North Sea between Wassenaar and Scheveningen as Noctiluca scintillans, more commonly known as sea sparkle. People are still advised not to swim in the North Sea today.
Visitors to beaches between Scheveningen and Wassenaar were not allowed into the ocean on Sunday due to a red substance floating on the water. The Coast Guard hoisted the yellow flag in the area and the police ordered people out of the water after the reddish-brown slimy slurry was discovered. The police are calling it a "pest algae"
A barge with three people on board capsized on the Westerschelde around midnight last night, NOS reports. This happened while a dredger was busy loading sand over onto the barge. The cause of the capsizing is still unknown.
A strange form of Christmas snow appeared on the beach of Egmond aan Zee this weekend.
In Vlissingen, the municipality has had to enforce a temporary swimming ban, as oil has been leaking out of an old ship wreck since Saturday afternoon, washing up on the beaches in the Westerschelde.
After hours of searching on Friday, divers finally discovered the body of 32-year old Adrie Gooijer, who went missing after his motor boat capsized in the waters of De Vlietlanden recreational lake system near Leidschendam on Thursday.
Dutch soldiers provided armed assistance to the Curaçao police corps on New Year's eve. This was decided during a meeting between Prime Minister Ivar Asjes, Governor George Lucille Wout, and Brigade General Dick Swijgman.
