The search has been called off for four crew members who are missing after the cargo ship Verity crashed into another cargo ship and sank in the early hours of Tuesday.
One body was recovered from the water and two other crew members taken to hospital, but divers were not able to find the remaining four crew members who had been on the vessel, which is confirmed to have sunk.
The DGzRS (Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger - German Maritime Search and Rescue Service) says the British-flagged cargo vessel Verity sank after the collision with Polesie, a Bahamas-flagged vessel, which is afloat and undamaged with 22 people on board.
The collision occurred 12nm southwest of the island of Heligoland, in the German Bight.
The 91m Verity was on her way from the German port of Bremen to the British port of Immingham, the DGzRS says.
Sea rescue vessels Hermann Marwede, Bernhard Gruben and Anneliese Kramer of the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons (DGzRS), the emergency tug Nordic, the pilot tender Wangerooge, the water police boat Sylt and a SAR helicopter Sea King of the German Navy were all deployed, the DGzRS said.
Also attending were the sea rescue cruiser Hermann Rudolf Meyer, Atair, from the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, multi-purpose vessel Mellum from the Waterways and Shipping Administration, and water police boat W3.
P&O cruise vessel Iona was diverted to help the rescue operation while on her way to Hamburg from Southampton, but it is understood she has now left the area.
Speaking to Maritime Journal shortly after the incident, Patrick Testa-Kreitz, with the DGzRS, said conditions had been extremely difficult to carry out rescue operations.
Not only were there wave heights of three metres, but the colour of the sea and sky at the time was so similar it made focusing on any point difficult, he said.
Verity is an inland bulk carrier built in 2001 with a carrying capacity of 3360t DWT.
The much larger 190m bulk carrier Polesie, which is still afloat and intact, was on her way from Hamburg to La Coruña in Spain, reports say. She was built in 2009.
The cause of the collision remains unclear.
The DGzRS operates an entirely voluntary maritime search and rescue service in the German areas of the North and Baltic Seas. It keeps about 60 rescue vessels and boats at 55 stations between Borkum in the West and Usedom in the East around the clock, in all weathers.
The DGzRS performs about 2,000 rescues every year, and since its founding in 1865 has rescued more than 86,000 people.
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