An inland tank barge lost its wheelhouse after striking the Centrumbrug Bridge over the Roeselare–Leie Canal at Izegem in Belgium on the morning (local time) of Saturday, November 7.
The vessel identified as the locally-registered Voluntas had finished unloading fuel oil at Roeselare before getting underway along the canal.
The double-unit barge's air draught had reportedly increased after it discharged its cargo, leaving the wheelhouse too high to pass beneath the bridge. The impact also displaced a car carried on the upper deck.
Witnesses on the bridge saw the master jump out of the wheelhouse before the impact, according to local broadcaster Focus-WTV. He was injured during his escape and taken to hospital by ambulance.
The barge’s other crewmembers were unhurt.
Another crewmember manoeuvred Voluntas a considerable distance astern under its own power. A second cargo vessel then helped push the barge towards the canal bank, where it moored at the Zuidkaai.
"No structural damage was found, so the bridge did not have to be closed," Geert Weymeis of waterway authority De Vlaamse Waterweg told Focus-WTV.
The cargo vessel Remacum lost its wheelhouse at the same bridge in February 2023 after departing Roeselare having unloaded clay.
The almost 500-metre Centrumbrug reopened in June 2024 after more than a year of renovation. De Vlaamse Waterweg has said the bridge is scheduled for replacement by 2030, citing its limited remaining life and insufficient height for the newest generation of vessels.
