Last Saturday, a cargo ship hit a closed lock on the Rhine in Baden-Württemberg (Germany) head-on. The woman driving the car was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident – writes the website of the weekly “Spiegel” on Friday. The water police estimate the damage at approximately one and a half million euros.
Last Saturday afternoon, a cargo ship ran head-on into a closed lock on the Rhine at Iffezheim in Baden-Württemberg (Germany) on the way from Basel to Karlsruhe. An investigation is underway into the threat to shipping traffic.
A cargo ship destroyed a lock on the RhinePhoto: Henry Mungenast / dpa
According to a local police spokesman, the route immediately before the lock was straight. – The lock attendant saw the ship approaching for several minutes – he added.
The water police estimate the damage at approximately one and a half million euros
There was another ship in the lock at the time of the incident. According to police, no one was injured. The ship was also virtually undamaged. As a result of the accident, the Rhine Lock can only be navigated through one of the two lock chambers, which may lead to delays in shipping traffic.
The water police estimate the damage at approximately one and a half million euros. Repair work may take up to a year because the heavy lock gates must be specially constructed, “Spiegel” reported on Friday.
As the website of the German weekly wrote, the woman steering the ship was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. – After a glass of beer, everything would probably look different. She was quite drunk – said investigators quoted by “Spiegel”. The woman was not the captain of the ship, but she was at the controls at the time of the accident – said a police spokesman.
Main photo source: Photo: Henry Mungenast / dpa / PAP