Viking Riverboat Hits Bridge, Two Crewmembers Killed

aleeoc, thanks for the report. I'm impressed that the crew has been able to carry on, when you work a ship, you become family. You can't really blame them for not being able to do to much, as they probably have to wait to find out themselves what is going on. Sounds as if they are doing all they can. It must have been a bit frightening to see all the emerg vehicles when you got off the boat. I hope that once you are on the new ship, things go smoothly. Hopefully you can enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Thank you aleeoc for your informative post at what is a very trying time for you all. I hope you enjoy the days you have on the Bresla and that you will have another cruise in the future.

This is such a sad time for Viking and for all their employees and the families of the dead. My heart goes out to all involved.

Thanks Aleeoc for giving us first hand knowledge of what a terrible night it was for all the cruisers ; not to mention the tragedy of losing two staff members. I can well imagine the all the crew working so hard to accommodate the guests; I found when I have cruised with them three times; they go beyond the call of duty to please everyone. Do hope you enjoy the two days on Bresla and look forward to a good refund so you can come back to a relaxing top notch cruise with them.

On another subject to anyone:

Do you think it will ever be public knowledge whether it was mechanical failure or human error? Do ships black box operate like airline ones? where you can hear all conversation before the crash? Terrible tragedy whatever the cause.

...A Swiss e-newspaper article reports that there is hope the assumed recorded conversation of the two crew members steering the Freya with the attendants at the upcoming lock will help in the investigation. As the lock is so close to the bridges it is assumed that the crew members had already announced the Freya approaching the lock...

Here is what happened at least from my perspective: we boarded on Sat night and everything was great. At about 230 am an announcement was made that the ship had had a small accident, and as a precaution a doctor would come to check each room, and then the ship would be evacuated, please dress warmly. About 45 minutes later we were told to report to the dining room. Nobody was to take any luggage. We sat in the dining room waiting for 2-3 hours. Many older passengers were exhausted and had had very little sleep for days due to just flying in that day. We were told to go pack our bags and put on buses and taken to the local elementary school and sat for hours not knowing where we would go next. The ship was surrounded by about 40 ambulances, police cars, police boats, etc. The Viking crew worked tirelessly to try to make paaengers comfortable, getting us water and cookies and scrambling to find 90 hotel rooms and make reservations for meals for 180 at the last minute. Not their fault but much frustration and anxiety among the passengers the past 3 days as our cruise became a hasty improvised bus tour where the staff don't know until the day before what will happen next. The staff have worked around the clock and you can tell they must be exhausted and devastated by the loss of their colleagues but their is only so much that they can do. Tomorrow we have a 4 hour bus ride, the, the will do an improvised river tour on a lunch cruise boat then will finally hopefully be able to board the Bresla on Wednesday night. That leaves us at least 2 full days of our cruise that we hope will be what we imagined.

Did Viking offer you the option of flying home immediately, with compensation for the lost trip?

thanks for the 1st hand report of what occurred in terms of passenger care/management during and following this sad event.

good questions about whether the option to leave was offered with a refund.

would imagine people could choose to leave and make private arrangements albeit at their own expense.

thankfully this incident did not result in more deaths/injuries. looks as if the emergency services did a great job in difficult circumstances.

Would trip insurance cover if you chose to discontinue the trip? This was a catastrophe, and it caused the boat to be incapacitated.

Just from a PR standpoint, I'd think Viking would offer every passenger on that ship a free cruise. They should want the people to have the experience that they were supposed to have,so they become repeat passengers,and don't go to other lines. Any thoughts on this?

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Viking, to their credit, offered all passengers the chance to go home but it took some a day or two to get flights. Their chairman flew in to talk to authorities and his employees and also spoke briefly to us. They would not specify and continue to decline to answer any specific questions about refunds, credits or compensation. I do think that most passengers feel that they were looking forward to and paid for a river cruise. Instead they were awakened in the middle of the first night, kept up all night, then given an improvised bus tour and this is not all what they paid for and they should be offered the choice of a full refund or a free cruise including airfare and not with a very short time limit as some people had to make extensive arrangements to get the time off and may have limited travel opportunities or health limitations. Some passengers had heart conditions and were complaining that being kept up all night was exacerbating their symptoms, etc but thankfully everybody seemed ok after a nights sleep and a hot meal.

Viking, to their credit, offered all passengers the chance to go home but it took some a day or two to get flights. Their chairman flew in to talk to authorities and his employees and also spoke briefly to us. They would not specify and continue to decline to answer any specific questions about refunds, credits or compensation. I do think that most passengers feel that they were looking forward to and paid for a river cruise. Instead they were awakened in the middle of the first night, kept up all night, then given an improvised bus tour and this is not all what they paid for and they should be offered the choice of a full refund or a free cruise including airfare and not with a very short time limit as some people had to make extensive arrangements to get the time off and may have limited travel opportunities or health limitations. Some passengers had heart conditions and were complaining that being kept up all night was exacerbating their symptoms, etc but thankfully everybody seemed ok after a nights sleep and a hot meal.

Hi all,

I.M.O,this is a moment to show how great the hart of Viking is.

It is not easy to make arrangement in the middle of the night for so many people and please everybody.

This is a moment,not to count beans,but showing how great the concern for their pax, and future pax is! It would be wise to do so.

I think they will come with a proper solution to please the most.

I feel with You.

Gilbert

TravelerThom,

Quote:

Originally Posted by notamermaid View Post

...A Swiss e-newspaper article reports that there is hope the assumed recorded conversation of the two crew members steering the Freya with the attendants at the upcoming lock will help in the investigation. As the lock is so close to the bridges it is assumed that the crew members had already announced the Freya approaching the lock...

I read this as the conversations between the boat and the lock are being recorded at the lock. Maybe the boat has a black box (which has been assumed by several people), but I don't think so.

I try to explain:

I understood the article to mean that the recording source is indeed not a black box, but an outside source connected with the lock or a recording device with the lock people themselves. However, thinking about the article now, it is not clear what it actually is.

The great puzzling thing, and very distressing added to that, is the fact that all the railings were down and the Freya went safely under a first bridge that was not much higher than the two bridges that so tragically stopped the ship. A German language newspaper report says that clearly the wheelhouse must have been working (at least to some extent) then. And it worked on the way towards Erlangen on the previous itinerary, of course, when the crew clearly experienced the bridge situation in the Canal.

notamermaid

aleeoc,

Thank you for taking the time to write to us here on CC. I hope you can calm down enough to sleep soundly and enjoy the lovely places you will still be able to see on your upcoming cruise days.

Viking have so much on their hands right it now, it really sounds as if they are all doing their best and I congratulate (if that is what you can say in these circumstances) the crew on looking after the passengers so well, having lost two from their midst.

Newspaper reports say that you were indeed taken to a local place to be registered and looked after which was not that easy at times with a language barrier being there, which I assume is even worse in times of stress like this. I hope you all felt well looked after in the end.

As regards compensation: of course I wish you and all other passengers will in the future be able to have the cruise you were looking forward to (and paid for) and given a bit of time after this initial stressful week or so Viking will get in touch with all of you to discuss this.

Again thank you for writing to the community.

notamermaid

...The great puzzling thing, and very distressing added to that, is the fact that all the railings were down and the Freya went safely under a first bridge that was not much higher than the two bridges that so tragically stopped the ship. A German language newspaper report says that clearly the wheelhouse must have been working (at least to some extent) then. And it worked on the way towards Erlangen on the previous itinerary, of course, when the crew clearly experienced the bridge situation in the Canal.

Thom

TravelerThom,

I have asked myself that question. It really is puzzling as you can see. Questions that, for the sake of all connected with this sad event, will hopefully be answered.

notamermaid

If they lowered the wheelhouse for Niederndorfer Strasse, how likely would it be that they would intentionally raise it in the 1 KM distance to Sylvaniastrasse?

Perhaps those who have traveled on the Longships can give us more perspective, but given the comments I've seen about the limited visibility while the wheelhouse is lowered I'd have thought it very likely that they spend as little time as possible in that position and would aim to raise the wheelhouse as soon as they can...

Looking at satellite photos, I think the boat struck the Sylvaniastrasse bridge located at roughly 49.57 North, 10.97 East. This looks to be about a kilometer South of the previous bridge (Niederndorfer Strasse), and about a kilometer North of the lock (with the A3 half way between the crash and the lock). If they lowered the wheelhouse for Niederndorfer Strasse, how likely would it be that they would intentionally raise it in the 1 KM distance to Sylvaniastrasse?

 

Thom

Thom, that´s the correct location. I´m not sure but I think I read somewhere that they just left their docking space to continue the trip. So in case that dock is inbetween the bridges that would explain why it wasn´t lowered yet.

steamboats

Perhaps those who have traveled on the Longships can give us more perspective, but given the comments I've seen about the limited visibility while the wheelhouse is lowered I'd have thought it very likely that they spend as little time as possible in that position and would aim to raise the wheelhouse as soon as they can...

TravelerThom,

as I have mentioned before I was in the wheelhouse of the Belvedere and the second captain lowered it to demonstrate what it is like. You just cannot see anything it turns dark, no natural light when fully lowered. The instruments changed as well, it felt odd. I think sailing is all done with the digital instruments and radar data, from what I remember. And the captain's knowledge of the river topography. Of course, one would not want to sail like that for very long.

The estimated damage, by the way, is supposedly several hundred thousand euros.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday. The Freya is stranded nearby as she cannot be towed to a repair dock. These are on the Danube and the river level is apparently to low for the manoeuvre.

notamermaid

steamboats,

the Freya had indeed just started sailing, but had already cleared a bridge, just after the harbour. This is the docking location in Erlangen: http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/my-trip/about-my-ship/docking-locations-ports.html

The ships sail out of the picture at the bottom, direction Passau, Budapest, etc., meaning downstream, the first bridge, not yet visible in the drawing is the St2244 (Herzogenauracher Damm). The next two bridges are Straßenbrücke Frauenaurach (also called Sylvaniastraße - the approach to the bridge) where the Freya supposedly touched the concrete and lost the roof and the Eisenbahnbrücke Erlangen-Herzogenaurach where the Freya tragically ended its journey.

Here is the official list of overheight clearance of the bridges in the Main-Danube-Canal. This list is published for navigating the rivers on Elwis, the official German state information system for shipping traffic.

Go down to Nbg Erlangen. The next column gives the bridge number, the column after that gives the kilometry counted downstream. After that comes the name of the bridge, figure 1 in the next column just means there is not a pillar in the middle separating the navigation channel. In the following column is the overhead clearance.

https://elwis.de/Binnenwasserstrassen/Technische-Daten/MDK.pdf

The following bridge is the A3 motorway wear the Freya is (quite probably - see my previous post) still docked. There the canal is much wider, presumably as it is already the approach to the lock.

To get the Freya free from the bridge the water level was lowered with the help of the lock downstream.

Another question that has been raised is that of speed. As the Freya was approaching the lock she might have reduced speed already or not. That is part of the investigation according to news reports.

notamermaid

I know the Captain can't always be at the helm but is there not a co-pilot to take his place? Were these guys who I am so saddened that they lost their lives; trained to operate the river cruise ship? Did the Captain go under the first bridge. Was he off duty when this happened?

What was the position of these two guys who lost their lives and were driving at the time?

The crew members who died was a 49-year-old who was guiding the vessel in place of the captain and a 33-year-old sailor.

We sailed on Viking Gefjon from Budapest to Amsterdam in July. Here are a some pictures of the Wheelhouse for those who might not have sailed on a Viking longboat. With the rails down the wheelhouse is almost even with the deck.

Thinking of all those involved in this tragic event and send continued prayers for the families of those who perished.

I know the Captain can't always be at the helm but is there not a co-pilot to take his place? Were these guys who I am so saddened that they lost their lives; trained to operate the river cruise ship? Did the Captain go under the first bridge. Was he off duty when this happened?

What was the position of these two guys who lost their lives and were driving at the time?

 

The crew members who died was a 49-year-old who was guiding the vessel in place of the captain and a 33-year-old sailor.

There are usually three licensed pilots onboard. One of them is the "captain" (actually the correct term is master - there are no captains on the rivers). The 49 yo was a licensed pilot.

steamboats

Does the wheelhouse lower to flush with the deck or as depicted in Suzy's picture? We just returned from a Idun cruise but never really paid attention to the wheelhouse.

I was wondering the same; loved Susy's pictures; been on three river cruises but wans't very observant... till this tragedy happened.

Read somewhere that when wheelhouse is lowered; nearly pitched dark inside so I thought little eye visibility?

Someone said this earlier: it looks like the boat was off center from the bridge.

There were 2 pictures in one of the articles that indicate this. One shows a view from the far bank of the river, looking towards the boat. It is wedged in about 80% across the length of the bridge.

The other is from the boat, looking towards the far side again, and you can see the arc of the bridge. The top of arc, or highest point, is not visible.

Pure speculaltion. http://www.br.de/nachrichten/mittelfranken/inhalt/havarie-schiff-erlangen-kanal-rhein-main-donau-kanal-tote-100.html

Picture 26 is a good example.

Does the wheelhouse lower to flush with the deck or as depicted in Suzy's picture? We just returned from a Idun cruise but never really paid attention to the wheelhouse.

...

Thom