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Two injured in Helsingør to Helsingborg ferry crash
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September 22nd, 2014
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Cause of accident in Sweden still unclear
The Mercandia IV ferry crashed into the dock in Helsingborg in Sweden at about 21:00 last night. Two people were injured and taken to hospital for observation, but both left under their own power shortly thereafter, according to the Swedish newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad. One of the injured was a passenger, one was a crew member.
The reason for the crash is still under investigation, but the captain did warn passengers that it was about to happen.
“All of a sudden they said: ‘Hold on, hold on’, and then we hit something,” passenger Alexandre Premholt told Helsingborgs Dagblad. “It was scary.”
READ MORE: Passenger ferry crashes into jetty in Jutland
Chaos in the cafeteria
Another passenger, Jimmy Lundberg, was sitting in the cafeteria when the accident happened.
“Shelves, porcelain and everything else fell,” he said. “I saw an elderly lady hit her head and sustain a deep gash to her forehead.”
The ship itself sustained serious damage.
"There is a rather large hole in the ship, and she will be sent to a shipyard," Anette Ustrup Svendsen, spokesperson for ferry operator Scandlines told DR Nyheder.
After the crash, the ferry was forced to sail into the harbour backwards, so passengers had to back down the car ramp to get off the ship.
Despite the crash, the short ferry ride between the two towns remains on schedule.
"We usually have four ships in operation, and we have a spare that we put into service at peak periods so we are sailing on a normal schedule," said Svendsen.
There were143 people on board the ferry, including 124 passengers and 19 crew members, when the accident happened.
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