Major search under way after boats collide in North Sea

Air and sea rescue teams are searching for three crew members of a small ship involved in a collision with a trawler some 40 km off the Dutch North Sea coast.

The accident happened at around 01.30 hours on Monday morning. Visibility was good, there was little wind and there are no indications of how the accident happened. ‘It is a mystery,’ a coastguard spokesman told news agency ANP.

After the collision, the trawler crew reported seeing five men on deck in lifejackets, Nos television said. The ship, which was built in 1948, sank within 20 minutes and they were able to rescue two of them.

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