Crewboat hits wind turbine offshore Germany; three injured

The German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger; DGzRS) has confirmed that three people were injured after a crewboat struck a wind turbine at a North Sea offshore wind farm on Thursday, April 23.

The UK-flagged Njord Forseti allided with one of the turbines at the Borkum Riffgrund I wind farm shortly after 18:00 local time on Thursday. The vessel soon after began taking on water, prompting the crew to send out a distress call.

The DGzRS then requested the crew of the platform supply vessel (PSV) Siem Barracuda to render assistance to the distressed crewboat as it was only minutes away from the area of the incident.

A medic onboard Siem Barracuda was treating the three injured crewboat occupants at the scene when a rescue helicopter arrived to evacuate the two individuals who had suffered more serious injuries. One was airlifted to hospital in Groningen in the Netherlands while the second was brought to Westerstede in Lower Saxony.

The third individual, whose injuries were only minor, was transferred to another crewboat that had also sailed to the area to render assistance.

The DGzRS added that the crew of Njord Forseti were eventually able to keep the water ingress under control, thereby allowing the vessel to sail under its own power to the Dutch port of Lauwersoog.