The shipwreck occurred near the North Sea island of Helgoland, northern Germany (Picture: Getty)
Several people are feared dead after two freighters crashed in the North Sea, German maritime emergency officials said today.
The shipwreck occurred after the Bahaman Polesie and the British Verity vessels smashed into one another at around 5am local time 12 nautical miles southwest of Heligoland.
The Verity was on its way from Bremen to Immingham, a key trading port in Lincolnshire.
The Cuxhaven state maritime emergencies central command said in a statement is it ‘assumed’ the Verity sank as a result of the collision.
One person was rescued from the water and is receiving medical aid.
A search for the 91-metre-long Verity is underway, the central command said.
The two vessels collided about 12 nautical miles southwest of Heligoland (Picture: Metro.co.uk)
The Verity sank after the collision (Picture: Shipping Explorer)
Authorities say 22 people are on board the still buoyant Polesie (Picture: Vessel Tracker)
According to monitoring service MarineTraffic, the Verity is ‘underway using engine’, meaning it is afloat and not touching the seabed.
The Polesie, a 190-metre-long vessel sailing from Hamburg to La Coruña, Spain, is still buoyant and was carrying 22 passengers.
Officials have not provided a reason for the crash.
Sea rescue cruisers, emergency tug boats, a water police boat, a German Navy helicopter and a DO228 sensor aircraft are on the scene.
The cruise ship IONA sailing nearby is supporting the search, with injured people advised to board the craft to receive treatment from onboard doctors.
A spokesperson for Havariekommando, the German maritime emergencies agency for the North Sea, told tabloid Bild that officials are assessing whether oil has been leaked into the sea.
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