Europe News
Salvagers raise sunken barge to clear Rhine bottleneck
Feb 13, 2011, 14:46 GMT
St Goarshausen, Germany - Salvagers on Sunday raised a boat that has partly blocked the Rhine, Europe's biggest inland waterway.
The Waldhof, a 110-metre motorized barge, was refloated and righted, one month after it capsized and sank with the loss of two lives at an accident blackspot in the rugged Rhine gorge.
Salvagers planned to draw the boat to the riverbank and then check its cabins for the two bodies.
Most of its cargo of sulphuric acid, which had been bound for the port of Rotterdam, was deliberately spilled into the river last week after salvagers said it could not be safely recovered.
Three cranes were needed to hold the vessel while water was pumped out of it to make it buoyant. The wreck has hampered cargo shipments on the river, with barges needing special supervision as they pass.
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