Stockholm | Two cargo ships collided early Monday morning in southern Sweden, causing one of the ships to capsize and two sailors to fall into the sea, we learned from the Swedish maritime authority.
The accident happened around 2:30 a.m. GMT in the Baltic Sea between the southern tip of Sweden and the Danish island of Bornholm between a British freighter and a Danish freighter, which is the one that capsized, explained to the AFP spokesperson for the authority, Carl-Johan Linde.
A major rescue operation involving nine boats and a helicopter is underway, in very cold water, at just four degrees.
The two missing are the two crew members of the Danish freighter, the Karin Høj, the owner of this 55-meter-long vessel confirmed to AFP.
“There are two crew members. The ship was empty, ”said Søren Høj. The causes of the accident are not yet known.
The British ship was not officially identified immediately but it is a cargo of about 90 meters, according to Swedish relief.
“The Danish freighter was heading for Denmark, while the British was sailing to (the Swedish island of) Gotland,” Linde said.