Specialized divers from Defense surfaced four car wrecks from the Eems Canal on Thursday at the request of the police. The cars may be involved in crimes. The discovery of bodies is not ruled out.
Next week the divers of the Royal Navy will go under water again between Groningen and Delfzijl. There are at least twenty other objects, such as cars and tractors, in the Eems Canal that the police may be interested in.
No missing persons were found in the four lifted passenger cars last Thursday, the Ministry of Defense said. The vehicles are now carefully cleaned by the police to find out who the cars belong to.
Alex Kranenburg, spokesperson for the Royal Netherlands Navy, confirms that diving took place in the Eems Canal on Thursday. This was done at the request of the National Police Unit. There are indications that the cars could be involved in (criminal) cases that should have been kept under water. Examples include missing persons cases or cars that have been used in crimes.
Four cars already salvaged
Specialized marines from the Defense Diving Group (stationed in Den Helder) dived into the water of the Eems Canal on Thursday for the police operation. So far, four vehicles have been recovered from the water at the Borgbrug in Groningen. According to navy spokesperson Kranenburg, the Defense divers know exactly how to work for the police. This is called ‘forensically aware’ and that mainly means that they know how to handle evidence safely.
Incidentally, it is not yet possible to say whether the wrecks can actually be linked to any criminal activity. The operation was launched after a reconnaissance dive in April. This was done at the request of the national police unit. He is particularly interested in a few cars that are underwater in the Eems Canal and have been located via sonar systems of the army. It is therefore about the cars that have been hoisted up at the Borgbrug.
Possibly still people found in water
During that reconnaissance dive it was already clear that the license plates could not be read, because the cars are in the wrong position in the water. But also because the number plates have been removed or damaged.
Police do not rule out the possibility that more people will be found in the other cars. At least one of the vehicles found in the Eems Canal had the airbag deployed, which suggests that someone was still in the car when it hit the canal.
Marine spokesman Kranenburg says that the navy divers will continue the job next week. There would be a total of about 26 “objects” in the water. Some of these wrecks have already been hit many times by shipping, but nothing was ever done with them because the same shipping would not be endangered. It is also by no means certain whether everything will be hoisted up, because it is quite an expensive operation.
Why not police divers?
According to the Royal Netherlands Navy, the police do have their own divers, but they only come into action at a crime scene. Spokesperson Alex Kranenburg states that the Defense Diving Group also has the equipment and specialist knowledge to be able to complete such salvage operations.