One dead after schooner with Polish crew sinks in Baltic
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
31.05.2015 10:36
A Polish sailor has died after a schooner sailed by a 12-strong Polish crew sunk 20 nautical miles north-west off the port of Świnoujścue in the Bay of Pomerania.
Photo: PAP/Marcin Bielecki
The vessel has been confirmed by emergency services in Gdynia as being the 23-metre “Down North”, with the German-registered “Palucca” fishing vessel radioing for help with rescuing the schooner’s crew around 9pm local time on Saturday evening.
“The schooner’s crew returned to Świnoujście where three ambulances were on site,” Krzysztof Lewiński from the port authorities said.
The reasons for the sinking and the death of the one of the crew members is being investigated by police and local prosuctors, who also inspected the life raft which was dispatched by the crew when the “Down North” started to sink.
The “Down North” left the port of Świnoujście on Saturday afternoon as part of a research mission to the Polar seas, with the crew commemorating 35 years since the renovation of the Polish Hornsund research station on Spitsbergen.
The vessel was due to return to Poland on 10 October, having sailed a total of 8,410 nautical miles, over 15,500 kilometres. (jb)
Source: PAP