Fire ignites on tanker in Baltic Sea off Germany; all on board rescued

The German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger; DGzRS) came to the aid of a commercial vessel after it caught fire while it was underway in the Baltic Sea on Friday, October 11.

The DGzRS-operated Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Bremen was alerted to the fire on board the 73-metre-long chemical tanker Annika northeast of the town of Kühlungsborn shortly after 09:00 local time on Friday.

The DGzRS rescue vessel Arkonna and the salvage tug Baltic of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure arrived at the scene to conduct firefighting operations while the smaller rescue boat Wilma Sikorski took all seven of the tanker’s crew safely on board.

The survivors were all evacuated by 10:00. However, the firefighting effort continued as other emergency response boats and helicopters diverted to the area to assist in monitoring for any pollution coming from the tanker.

The rescue and firefighting operation was undertaken as the area was experiencing Beaufort force five conditions with wind speeds approaching 27 knots.