The river cruise ship De Zonnebloem is still ashore after a collision. The recovery will at least take ten weeks, the National Association De Zonnebloem announced.
The ship became involved in a collision in Germany on Saturday 29 March. The 69 passengers, 65 volunteers and fifteen crew members on board were released. The damage turned out to be considerable.
The ship is fully adapted to offer people with a physical disability a holiday in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Many volunteers always sail with it.
Enormous damage
The damage is huge, the association said. Not only the hole in the hull, but due to the blow of the collision, many things are broken on board.
A first cautious estimate of the costs of the total damage runs in the seven figures. “Certain parts must be specially ordered and it remains to be seen how long that delivery time is,” says Kapitein Jolle Wietse Visser.
The damage to the boat was clearly visible after the collision: