A Bulgarian cruise ship hit a concrete wall in Austria on Friday

A Bulgarian cruise ship carrying more than 140 passengers hit a concrete wall in the Danube riverbed in Austria. The incident took place late on March 29 in the northern Austrian town of Aschach an der Donau, local police said on Saturday.

11 people were injured on the Bulgarian cruise ship

Following the impact of the Bulgarian cruise ship with the concrete wall, 11 people were injured and transported to the hospital. Six others suffered less serious injuries that did not require hospital treatment.

The ship had departed from Passau, a German town on the border with Austria, but further down the river, on exiting a lock chamber, “suddenly, the ship could no longer maneuver,” and the starboard bow and port stern became the concrete walls of the lock, the release said.

The ship’s second-in-command, who had been at the helm during the incident, “pressed the emergency switch, after which the electronics turned on again.” He was then able to steer the ship out of the lock.

The vessel was subsequently docked at the quay and the emergency services were notified.

The cause of the loss of direction is unclear

The exact cause of the temporary loss of direction is unclear. The ship was able to continue its journey to Linz, Austria. The collision was linked to a malfunction in the ship’s electronic controls, an Austrian police statement said.

After the ship hit the lock walls, “the second captain of the ship, who was at the helm at the time, immediately pressed the emergency switch, after which the electronics turned on again and the crew member was able to steer the ship out of the lock,” the police said. It added: “After checking the ship, it was found that the electronics were working again after the emergency switch was reset, which is why the ship was able to continue its journey.”

A power outage also occurred in Baltimore

A week ago, a container ship struck a pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing a section of the 1.5-mile-long structure to collapse and killing six construction workers.

Citing the container ship’s recovered data recorder, officials said the Dali ship’s power went out for just one minute and three seconds as it approached the bridge, Sky News reported, but that was enough to the collision with the bridge pillar became inevitable.

In 2023, in the worst disaster on the Danube in more than half a century, a cruise ship struck and sank a smaller boat, killing 25 South Korean tourists and two crew members. The captain was sentenced to five years in prison in Hungary for his role in the accident.

The Danube River is the second largest river in Europe. It flows through Central and South-Eastern Europe, from the Black Forest to the Black Sea. River cruises attract a large number of tourists every year.