The maritime rescue service in Germany informs that a dead seafarer has been found at sea while two other have been successfully salvaged after two freighters collided in the North Sea.

An additional four are still missing.

One of the ships, a British freighter, has sunk after the collision.

The German rescue service has previously informed that several were missing.

The two ships collided 22 kilometers southwest of the island of Heligoland and 31 kilometers northeast of the island of Langeoog.

A rescue and search operation is underway, according to the maritime rescue service in Germany.

Two dry cargo ships have collided, according to Reuters. It is the British-registered ship ”Verity” and the Spanish-registered ”Polesie”.

According to the IMO ship register, ”Polesie” is owned by the company Ares Nine Shipping, and ”Verity” has Casper Chartering registered as the owner.

They are 91 and 190 meters long respectively.

The ”Polesie”, which has 22 people on board, is still afloat according to Reuters, while the collision has caused the ”Verity” to sink.

One person has been successfully rescued from the water, but several others are missing, according to the German Sea Rescue Service.

According to the Hamburger Abendblatt, the ”Verity” was on its way from Bremen to Immingham in northeast England.

The rescue operation is being led from a command unit in Cuxhaven, according to the newspaper.

”Several ships are participating in the effort,” it says.

There is wind force six in the area and three meter high waves.

There is currently no explanation as to why the two ships collided.

(Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Kristoffer Grønbæk)