North Sea: containers with toxic cargo are lost
They were on a freighter, from Portugal to Germany. About 270 fell into the water. Now they are looking for them.

Several containers that remain stacked on the MSC ZOE freighter, with the Panamanian flag, fall from the deck of the ship./ EFE

The first remains of the disaster appeared on the German island of Borkum. We also arrived on the Dutch beaches. It is that about 270 containers, some with toxic substances, were lost in an accident suffered by the gigantic cargo ship “MSC Zoe” in North Sea waters.

the ship lost more than 270 containers off the coast of the Netherlands

The freighter “MSC Zoe” lost the containers when it made its way from Antwerp (after leaving Portugal) to the German port of Bremerhaven between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning due to a major storm that struck the North Sea. Cargo includes toxic goods.

Three containers lotan near the coast in the Netherlands. / Reuters
This Thursday, the authorities in Germany and the Netherlands are looking for the lost containers on the high seas, and the data that some carried dangerous material. A bag with the substance in question was found on a Dutch island.

MSC Zoe arrived at the German port of Bremerhaven on Thursday morning. The ship, which sailed from Sines, Portugal, lost part of its cargo in a storm off the north coast of the Netherlands and Germany.

The German maritime emergency command said authorities have established that three desperate containers contained a dangerous substance, but none have been found.

The substance in question is an organic peroxide, a highly toxic and flammable complex. On Thursday, Dutch authorities said a bag of peroxide had washed ashore on the island of Schiermonnikoog.

German authorities said most of the containers located so far were in Dutch waters. Special ships equipped with sonars were searching the waters of the North Sea for containers.

Soldiers clean up the beaches in the Netherlands. / AFP

In the Netherlands, the Defense Ministry said they had soldiers on Christmas leave to assist with beach cleaning tasks on the North Sea islands starting on Friday, then requests from the mayors of Schiermonnikoog and the neighboring island of Terschelling. . About 100 soldiers will be deployed.

Officials from the two countries warned the public not to go near the containers.

The ship’s operator, the MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, said it takes the incident “very seriously, both in terms of the impact of those accidents on the environment and in terms of damage to customers.”

He said he works with local authorities “on all aspects of cleanup.” Police in Bremerhaven were investigating the case.

This Friday, objects, plastics and fragments of polystyrene continued to arrive on the Dutch beaches.

One hundred soldiers landed in the early morning hours of this Friday on the island of Schiermonnikog, one of the most affected in the Waden archipelago, in the north of the Netherlands, to help the population of this island and dozens of people who they moved from the mainland to clean up the coasts.
Source: AFP, DPA AND AP