AMSTERDAM – A small passenger ferry capsized on Friday after colliding with a German cargo ship in a busy Dutch shipping canal and the ferry captain went missing.
The ferry was floating upside down and police said they feared for the captain’s life but that no other people were thought to have been aboard the boat, which is normally used by commuters, sometimes with their bicycles.
Due to school holidays, commuting traffic is light.
Firefighters, divers, a helicopter and a boat with thermal sonar had been called in to search the Amsterdam-Rhine canal for the ferry captain. Police spokeswoman Carine Portengen said the first hour is crucial to save someone who is in the water and that it was increasingly unlikely that the man would be found alive.
Police said the two crew on the inland freight ship were detained for questioning, and had tested negative for alcohol.
The 72-km (45-mile) canal, which links Amsterdam to the Rhine, a major European shipping artery, has a strong current and is about 100 metres (330 feet) wide.
The accident halted traffic in the canal and about two dozen ships were waiting around the scene of the accident. It was not immediately known when the canal would be reopened.
The collision occurred before dawn at about 0700 CET (0500 GMT) about 30 km (20 miles) south of Amsterdam.
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