Rower still in critical condition after collision with cargo ship: ‘entire...

VALKENBURG –
‘This has a huge impact. We are a small club, everyone knows each other. ‘ The shock is still good at the Katwijk rowing club Ferox after a sloop of their association was hit by a sand barge on Tuesday evening. All rowers ended up in the water, one of them is in bad shape. ‘The person has been resuscitated and is currently still in critical condition in intensive care in the hospital,’ says Daniëlle van Leeuwen, board member at Ferox.

The sloop with seven rowers collided with the cargo ship near the Joop van der Reijdenbrug in Valkenburg. A ship that size and so late in the dark came as a surprise to the rowers. The rowers have seen nothing and were completely robbed, ‘says Van Leeuwen a day after the accident. There was a men’s team on the rowing boat that was training. There were five men and two women on board. The women were substitutes for the team. ‘

All seven ended up in the water. Six oarsmen were able to get ashore themselves, one had to be taken out of the water and was resuscitated. According to the board member, three others were taken to hospital for a check-up. One of them had to stay overnight for observation.

‘Everyone was in shock’

‘We are terribly shocked,’ says Van Leeuwen. ‘We are a close-knit association where everyone knows each other.’ Ferox has a total of seventy members and many people are also related. “This really has an enormous impact on the association.” For the time being there are therefore no rowers on the water. “Nobody’s mind is that at the moment.”

The board of the association is currently making an inventory of what is needed within the association. ‘Everyone was in shock last night. It is only now starting to land. ‘ When dealing with this accident, the association must also take the corona measures into account. According to Van Leeuwen, the municipality has offered victim assistance.

Police are investigating

The rowing boat sank to the bottom after the collision. Wednesday morning the sloop was taken out of the water. “This will be taken away for technical investigation,” said a police spokesman. The police are further investigating the accident. “That happens with every shipping accident,” says the spokesman. ‘We also look here to see whether rules have been broken and whether anyone can be blamed for anything.’

In order to get a clear picture of what exactly happened, the police talks to, among others, those involved and records witness statements. “It will take a while before we have a clear picture of what exactly happened.”