Local Emergency Services News

A sightseeing boat and a water taxi collided on Thursday near Rotterdam's iconic Erasmus Bridge, local emergency services said, and six people were "helped out of the water".Images of the incident on social media showed the collision between the two vessels, with the smaller water taxi being pushed under water of the Nieuwe Maas river.ANP news agency reported that the six rescued were all passengers and the captain of the water taxi, which it said later sank. The agency cited a spokesperson for Rotterdam's regional safety authority.There were no reports of injuries.

MSC Cruises said a fire broke out aboard one of its vessels idled in Greece, on Thursday.The fire was reported at 3:42 p.m. local time aboard the MSC Lirica, currently in warm layup without passengers on the Greek island Corfu, and was put out by the ship’s two fire brigades and local emergency services teams by 6:58 p.m. No injuries were reported among the 51 crew members on board at the time of the incident, the cruise line said.MSC Cruises said the blaze originated from a starboard-side fiberglass lifeboat on the ship's sixth deck…

Safety around Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is a hot topic, now that LNG is more and more becoming the fuel of the future. The results of a recent LNG emergency and incident response study are a big step forward in LNG safety in Europe. Today, the Rhine Port Group hands over the first edition of this study to Mr. Specht, 1st Major of the City of Mannheim and dedicated chief of the fire department. The Rhine Port Group consists of the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Antwerp, the Port of Mannheim, the Port of Strasbourg and the Port of Switzerland. The document informs emergency response organisations how to prepare themselves to manage credible LNG incidents on inland navigation along the Rhine-Main-Danube corridor.

Mexican rescue workers were trying to refloat a North Korean vessel stranded in the Gulf of Mexico a few miles from a port where it had planned to load fertilizer, authorities said on Tuesday. The 6,700-metric-ton freighter Mu Du Bong, which had come from Cuba, ran aground on a reef on Monday, 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Tuxpan in Veracruz state, said Ricardo Maza, head of the local emergency services. "The boat is still there. Today we were hoping there would be better surf to be able to refloat it," Maza said. There were no reports of injuries, and the crew was still aboard, he added. Maza said the matter was under the jurisdictions of Tuxpan port authorities, the Mexican Navy and the environmental protection agency due to the possible damage caused to the reef area.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a news release stating that during unloading of a ship that had arrived in Charleston from the Dominican Republic, dock workers identified several individuals absconding from a container. One individual was detained by crewmembers of the vessel. A second individual jumped into the water and was apprehended by local marine law enforcement personnel. A third individual was found in the container and pronounced dead by local emergency services personnel. Subsequently, a hole was discovered in the top of the container through which persons could enter and exit. (6/12/10). (Source: Bryant’s Maritime News)

The Maritime Administration has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense’s United States Transportation Command to use National Defense Reserve Fleet ships, particularly DOT’s Ready Reserve Force, to support government response to civil emergencies at home, as well as for defense sealift and humanitarian response overseas. The agreement, signed by Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton and General Norton A. Schwartz, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, formalizes using the ships in ways that have been tested under emergency conditions. During the hurricane season of 2005, RRF ships in , , provided the template for one use of the ships: emergency vehicles were driven on board two RRF ships berthed in…