2023 Heligoland ship collision

On 24 October 2023, one person was killed and four others disappeared after two cargo ships, the Isle of Man-flagged MV Verity (2001) and the Bahamian-flagged Polesie, collided in the North Sea near Germany's Heligoland islands, with the Verity sinking.

Background
MV Verity (2001) was carrying steel from the northern German port of Bremen to Immingham in Lincolnshire, England, when it collided with Polesie, which had departed from Hamburg port, northern Germany, for La Coruña in northwestern Spain. Verity was built in The Netherlands in 2001 and operated since 2008 by the Anglo-Dutch shipping company Faversham Ships, based at Cowes, Isle of Wight. It was a general cargo ship, measured, had an overall length of 91.25 m and capacity of ; Verity was registered in the Isle of Man and carried IMO number 9229178. There was a crew of seven on board.

The 'handysize' bulk carrier Polesie belongs to the Polish shipping company Polsteam, based in Szczecin. It was built in China in 2009 for Polsteam, measuring, with an overall length of 189.99 m and capacity of ; Polesie is registered in the Bahamas, carries IMO number 9488097 and has 22 crew.

Collision
The collision took place in the German Bight, North Sea, 14 nmi southwest of Heligoland and 17 nmi northeast of the island of Langeoog at around 05:00Central European Summer Time (CEST) (UTC+2) on 24October 2023. Verity's automatic identification system (AIS) transmissions ceased at 04.56 CEST, suggesting that it sank immediately after the collision. It was dark, and German authorities reported strong winds and three-metre waves in the area. Polesie was not seriously damaged and was able to return to Cuxhaven, all crew members remaining uninjured.

Search
P&O Cruises confirmed that a ship in its fleet, MS Iona, had been in the area and was involved in the subsequent search. The German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies deployed two sea rescue cruisers and coordinated a German Navy helicopter and a water police boat, resulting in the rescue of two survivors. One of the Verity's crew was found dead in the water; the remaining four of an original total of seven crew were missing. A search was called off the next day.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger (German Maritime Search and Rescue Service) sent the SAR-cruisers Hermann Marwede (Station Heligoland) and Bernhard Gruben (Station Hooksiel). The Federal emergency tug Nordic, and the pilot tender Wangerooge, as well as the water police boat Sylt and a SAR helicopter from the German Navy were involved in the SAR operation. The P&O cruise liner Iona spent the day and night scouring the sea off the north German coast for the missing crew.

The sea area where the missing sailors might be was searched during the night of 25-26 October without success, and rescuers then stopped the search.

A remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) was lowered to the wreck of the Verity to search for signs of life from the missing sailors. For a while after the sinking there was considered to be a possibility that sailors could be in an air bubble in the ship and still be alive.

The Polesie was able to reach the German Port of Cuxhaven under its own steam.

Investigation
The cause of the collision is not publicly known. The German Federal Bureau for Maritime Casualty Investigation (Bundesstelle für Seeunfalluntersuchung, BSU) in Hamburg began investigating the cause of the accident. The BSU says it is a "very serious maritime accident" and that the investigation is being conducted together with the freighters' two flag states - Bahamas and Great Britain. On 25 October it was reported that the responsible maritime accident investigation authority in Great Britain, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, was taking over the management of the joint investigation; the general manager of the Verband Deutscher Reeder, Martin Kröger, stated that it is "far too early to say what was the cause of the accident".