A 101-meter-long tourist ship with 129 people on board has hit a pillar of a bridge on the Rhine River near Germany's Duisburg, leaving 25 injured, according to police cited by the DPA news agency.
The Swiss Crystal ship was heading back to the Netherlands as part of a 5-day cruise along the Rhine starting and ending in the Dutch city of Arnhem.
Most of the passengers are Dutch citizens.
Swiss Crystal: incidente a Duisburg https://t.co/MLyp8I99QU pic.twitter.com/SQpcoTUBeh
— Crazy Cruises (@CrazyCruises) 27 декабря 2017 г.
"Those affected had the opportunity to continue their journey with the replacement ship," a travel company that is running the cruise said.
Germany: Rhine cruise ship hits bridge pylon causing injuries | https://t.co/Y4VfXslDLP via @dwnews #SwissCrystal #Scylla #cruise #rivercruise pic.twitter.com/aRcbtoGkrm
— news view (@news_view) 27 декабря 2017 г.
As a result of the incident, the bridge, which encompasses a section of the A42 motorway in North Rhine-Westphalia, has been closed for several hours as a precaution, while the bow of the ship has been damaged in the collision, leading to a major rescue operation.
