Cargo ship sinks off Dutch Coast, death toll rises
People watch and wave as the new British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring, the first of the Royal Navy’s new Type 45 destroyers, leaves the southern English harbour of Portsmouth on January 11, 2012 on its maiden voyage for a seven-month deployment to east of the Suez. Britain’s newest warship is heading to the Gulf for its first mission at a time of tensions over Iran’s threat to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key transport route for oil. AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images)
A cargo ship sank Wednesday night on the North Sea after it collided with another vessel, the Associated Press reported. The crash brought on a dramatic rescue for missing crew members.
"Given the water temperature and the amount of time that's passed, we don't have any hope for more survivors," Peter Westenburg of the Dutch Coast Guard told the Christian Science Monitor.
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Dutch news agency ANP said that 13 of the 24 crew from the Baltic Ace had been rescued.
Reuters had reported that at least three people were dead. But the CS Monitor later reported that a fifth body was found today.
And rescuers were searching for the bodies of six crewmen today, bringing the presumed death toll up to 11, the Monitor said.
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