Cargo Ship Rams Into Denmark´s Great Belt Bridge

A ship has crashed into the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark. All traffic across the bridge is stopped, also trains. One crewmember is missing, two injured (one of them seriously). The ship is called "M/V Karen Danielsen". This is the main bridge (it´s huge) connecting the east and west of Denmark. They call it "The accident that should not happen". The ship is now stuck under the bridge and they don´t know how damaged the bridge is...


Photo: Claus Fisker/Scanpix

News sources:
DR (in danish)
Aftenposten (in norwegian)
Dagbladet (in norwegian)
Cargo ship rams into Denmark's Great Belt bridge (finally, I found an english article)
Still no BBC or CNN, here´s two more in english:
ChannelNewsAsia: Cargo ship rams into Denmark's Great Belt bridge
Bernama: Cargo ship rams into Denmark's Great Belt bridge


Photo: Scanpix

It is dark now and they are still searching for the missing crew member.

Photo: Claus Fisker

[edit on 2005/3/3 by Hellmutt]

The ship has now been removed from the bridge. The bridge has reopened but the traffic is limited to very slow speed. It is still dark here...

They have found the missing crew member dead. The bridge has "lots of damage"...

They say the dead crewmember was stearing the ship. He had about 12 minutes to see the bridge before impact. They speculate if he was already dead before the ship hit the bridge.

The ship should have sailed the white line, instead she sailed the red line. She was never supposed to sail under the bridge at all. See picture:

Photo: TV 2

[edit on 2005/3/6 by Hellmutt]

The autopsy show that the dead crewmember (who was stearing the ship) was alive when the ship crashed into the bridge. However, they found that he was drunk with 1,55 promille...

That ship is in trouble again. It has grounded in Svendborgsund, Denmark. Btw, it has a new name now. It changed name from "Karen Danielsen" to "Mirabelle".


Ekstra Bladet - Grundstødt skib smider lasten (in danish)

This is horrible !. This project was doomed right from the beginning.
Already did cost human life in the process of building...
What did they tell you ?

Just in:
The Mirabelle ("Karen Danielsen") is now sinking in a Norwegian fjord! All crew have been evacuated.


Lasteskip synker i Hardangerfjorden (in Norwegian)


Vessel details MIRABELLE (cargo ship) MMSI: 256046000 IMO: 8500070 vessel info and position - Digital Seas

From what I can see from the updated article, Mirabelle hasn't sunk yet. But they say that she will most likely sink.

So basically this guy was drunk, maybe fell asleep at the wheel - how many crew did the ship have?? I don't know if it's normal to pilot a ship drunk, but someone should of realised he was wasted... 12 minutes is a long time when a bridge is looming.

reply to post by Now_Then

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These are three different incidents involving that ship. The first was when she crashed into the bridge in 2005. The second incident in Denmark was just before Christmas 2008 (with her new name). Now she's sinking in Norway.

Or maybe not...? They say she will probably sink, but they are not 100% sure. Other ships are assisting, and they're apparently trying to save her. A crew of 10, from Lithuania and Ukraine, were rescued from her. She is loaded with timber. They are worried about a nearby fishfarm. There's a lot of timber floating around right now...


Ti personer reddet fra synkende skip | ABC Nyheter (in Norwegian)

It turns out that the man on the bridge was asleep.



Photo: Kystvaktfartøyet KV "Ålesund" / SCANPIX HANDOUT


Styrmannen sovnet - skipet grunnstøtte (in Norwegian)

The ship is registered in Malta. Is Norwegian-owned. The Captain is Norwegian. The rest of the crew is from Ukraine and Lithuania. The man on the bridge, who was asleep at the time (causing the accident), is from Ukraine. The rescue operation was dramatic for the crew, and they were saved just in time.


I've found a couple of sources in english:


Crew Rescued As Maltese Ship Runs Aground Off Norway


All 10 crew rescue from sinking freighter

Mirabelle didn't sink after all. They're trying to repair her now. However, she's leaking some oil...



Photo: Per Vidar Raunholm/NRK


The picture is from this Norwegian article:
NRK: Sovnet på vakt

A correction:

Part of the crew didn't come from Lithuania, but from Latvia.