Collision of tour boat with water taxi at Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam: all passengers removed from the water | Instagram VTM NEWS

The emergency services rushed out en masse. The fire brigade received help from, among others, the seaport police and the port service. “At that time, we were not yet sure whether all the people had been saved,” it sounds.

Images from the webcam at the Erasmus show how a water taxi collided with another boat around 1.20 pm and then capsized. The water taxi collided with the Spido, the Rotterdam tour boat.

Leo Blok, the director of Spido, says that the images of the incident “speak volumes”. “The captain sailed away with the Marco Polo (one of the large tour boats, ed.) when the water taxi wanted to come quickly. He saw it coming, so quickly reversed the boat. But he couldn’t stop tapping the water taxi.”

The captain is quite upset, says Blok. “Hopefully that will be sorted out soon, but that often only becomes apparent later. He is well shocked. But not only him, also the crew.” The Spido boat itself sustained little damage. “There are a few scratches on it.” Blok says about two hundred people were on board the tour boat at the time of the collision. He said they were very scared. Aftercare is arranged for them.

According to Daan van der Have, one of the owners of Watertaxi Rotterdam, all those on board the water taxi are doing well. According to him, the six were removed from the water by other water taxis that were nearby. This can also be seen in images. It concerns the captain, four adult passengers and a child. They were taken to hospital as a precaution.

The driver of the water taxi that collided with the tour boat has been with the company since 1993. This is a very experienced captain, reports Van der Have. He thinks it is still too early to speculate about the debt question. “The captain is very touched by what happened,” the owner said.

The police are further investigating the circumstances of the accident on the Nieuwe Maas.

Collisions are more common on the Nieuwe Maas in Rotterdam. As a result, a 53-year-old Belgian died in 2019. She was in a dinghy that was rammed by a speedboat. Eleven other people on board also fell into the water. One of them became disabled. The skipper who caused the collision was sentenced to community service.