Moment Container Ship Crashes Into Rotterdam Bridge

Story By: Delano LangrasSub Editor: Michael LeidigAgency: Newsflash

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This footage shows the moments just after a huge container ship collided with the underside of a bridge in Rotterdam and three containers were sent crashing into the water.

The incident took place at the Willemsbrug bridge in the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands when witnesses described hearing someone shouting “scheisse” from the vessel, operating under the German flag, before three containers were knocked into the water.

Eyewitness Jan Philip van Mourik told media company Rijnmond: “There was a loud bang and then came a sort of aftershock as the containers crashed into the water.

“Wasn’t the captain paying attention or something? Was he drinking or chatting on the phone?”

Restaurant owner Hans Mosselman told Rijnmond reporters that he heard a very loud bang like a thunderclap.

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He added: “It wasn’t anything new. It was the third or fourth time this has happened. This was the first time I was able to film some of it though.

“You wonder where these people learn to sail. The vessel was piled way too high. Do they not learn to count at school?”

The local police said that there were no injuries and no hazardous materials inside the damaged containers which were empty at the time.

The containers were lifted out of the water and stored at the nearby Maasboulevard, according to reports.

City officials closed the bridge while experts surveyed the structure for damage.

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Van Mourik said: “There were things hanging loose under the bridge, you could tell it had been damaged.”

A resident in the nearby North Island said it was an easy mistake to make, adding: “They first passed under the Erasmus Bridge, but Willemsbrug is one metre lower. There things went wrong.”

The local authorities have yet to confirm whether they are investigating the matter.