An oil tanker caught fire off Germany’s Baltic Sea coast early on Friday and all seven crew members were rescued, German authorities said in a statement.
The fire broke out on the 73-meter-long German-flagged oil and chemical tanker “Annika” northeast of Kühlungsborn, Germany, on the morning of October 11.
The German maritime search and rescue service DGzRS Die Seenotretter responsible for the maritime search and rescue service in the German areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, reported on Friday that all seven crew members were rescued by the sea rescue boat Wilma Sikorski shortly after 10 a.m. local time.
“Black smoke is visible all the way to the coast,” DGzRS reported on Friday, mentioning that shortly after 9 a.m. the alarm was received by the sea rescuers via radio.
Photo credit: DGzRS Die Seenotretter
Three vessels have been deployed to the burning tanker “Annika” to extinguish the blaze, with several firefighting teams also en route to the site.
Specifically, a sea rescue cruiser was deployed for hours to fight the fire. The tugboat Baltic and the multi-purpose ship Arkona were at the stricken site, according to the authorities.
“The sea rescue cruiser ARKONA from the DGzRS station Warnemünde is fighting the fire together with other ships,” DGzRS said on Friday October 11, adding that there are numerous other vehicles and several helicopters on the way.
For all other measures, the Emergency Command of the Federal and the coastal countries has taken over the overall deployment management.
