Boat Hits Tanker, Nine Hurt

A French tourist ship cruising on the Rhine lost steering control and collided with a Dutch tanker carrying a highly inflammable substance on Sunday, German police said. Nine of the 140 passengers aboard the French cruiser were injured and some were hospitalized, but none were seriously hurt, a police spokesman said.

None of the toxic liquid spilled from the tanker, but the collision caused about $93,020 of damage to the 1990-built French cruiser Van Gogh. It had departed from Strasbourg, France, and had earlier lost steering ability. It was unable to move from the path of the approaching tanker carrying 1,200 pounds of paraxyol, the spokesman said.

Police were detaining the two ships as they began an investigation on Sunday afternoon.