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.
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.
A raft carrying ten people capsized on the waves on Terschelling on Tuesday afternoon. The accident happened at beach pole 8. Seven people had to be hospitalized, a spokesperson for rescue organization KNRM said to RTL Nieuws.
The victims were hypothermic and swallowed some water, the spokesperson said. "The emergency services determined that they could best be taken to the hospital." Three people were immediately taken to hospitals in Sneek and Leeuwarden with a lifeliner. The helicopter later came back for the others.
A large fire destroyed restaurant De Klok in the Noord-Holland village of Egmond aan Zee on Thursday afternoon. The fire department had to call in the help of rescue organization KNRM to supply additional extinguishing water from the sea, NU.nl reports.
Firefighters managed to prevent the fire spreading to other buildings. The fire department eventually decided to demolish the building, to make it easier to get to and extinguish the fire.
The fire caused a lot of smoke. An NL Alert was issued warning local residents to keep their windows and doors closed.
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 9-year-old boy lost his hand in an accident on the Markermeer on Monday afternoon. The boy was swimming on the lake with friends, using a sailboat as a dive board. When the boy jumped, his hand got stuck somewhere on the boat and tore off, RTL Nieuws reports.
Exactly what went wrong is not yet clear. According to a spokesperson for rescue organization KNRM, eyewitnesses say the boy's hand got stuck on the rigging - a thick rope or steel wire that keeps the mast attached to the ship. The sailboat was about 15 kilometers from Enkuizen at the time.
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.
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.
Rescue organization KNRM rescued 28 Belgian school children from a 52 meter long sailing ship in Vlieland on Tuesday after the ship got stranded. No one was injured, according to the KNRM.
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
Five sperm whales died on a Texel beach on Wednesday morning after washing ashore on Tuesday,
The coast guard and rescue brigade KNRM called off the rescue operation searching for the pilot of a small airplane that crashed into the North Sea near Petten on Monday afternoon. The coastguard assumes that he won't be found alive. The search for his body continues
A sailing yacht called Nenna with one person aboard went missing off the coast between Katwijk and Scheveningen on Wednesday. The Royal Dutch Rescue Company KNRM launched a search and managed to find the yacht with the captain on board and rushed him to the Erasmus hospital. He passed away in hospital, the KNRM announced on Thursday.
The Royal Dutch Rescue Society, the KNRM, launched a more than two hour long rescue mission on Thursday night searching for two missing kite surfers, who eventually turned out to not be missing after all.
The mortal remains of Rick Broekmeulen was found at the Inlaag on Sunday morning. Broekmeulen had been missing since his ship capsized on the Westerschelde early in February.
A dead whale was discovered drifting in a channel, around 5 kilometers off the coast of Katwijk on Wednesday afternoon. The whale was moved by the Royal Netherlands Rescue Society (KNRM), and is now lying on the beach north of Scheveningen, according to a spokesperson, De Telegraaf reports.
Visitors to beaches in Ameland and Schiermonnikoog were advised to get somewhere safe at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning after multiple waterspouts were spotted over the Wadden Sea. Several hundred meters high, onlookers tweeted spectacular photos of the spouts whirling into the sky.
Two surfers had to be pulled from the North Sea on Monday by rescue services, around 9 kilometers from the coast of Voorne-Putten. It is thought that they were stuck out at sea for over four hours.
Eight people became stranded on a sandbank on Sunday. They were saved when the Royal Dutch Rescue Society (KNRM) came into action.
