Ship disaster on the Hadersleben dam
The ship disaster on Haderslebener Damm occurred on July 8, 1959, when the completely overcrowded excursion boat Turisten caught fire on the Haderslebener Damm reservoir not far from the Danish town of Hadersleben in North Schleswig and 57 people died.
Course of events and consequences
Turisten was a small, petrol- powered excursion boat that was used on the Haderslebener Damm, a reservoir that was created in the Middle Ages by damming several watercourses ( Danish dam : artificially created pond ), which extends the Hadersleben Fjord immediately west of the Hadersleben old town.
On July 8, 1959, the small ship, approved for 35 passengers , was hopelessly overloaded with 94 people. When the boat was near the town of Damager, the engine stalled, probably due to problems with the fuel supply. The skipper tried to feed gasoline from a reserve tank through rubber hoses. When gasoline got directly into the overheated engine, there was an explosion and seconds later the ship was on fire. The skipper tried to steer the tourists into the shallowest possible water. But most of the passengers were already trying to save themselves by jumping into the water. Numerous passengers died in the flames. Even more people drowned, although the Hadersleben dam is not particularly deep. Although a major alarm was given immediately and numerous helpers were on hand quickly, any help came too late for 54 people. Three others died of their severe burns in the following days.
After this accident, a law in Denmark stipulated that excursion boats should only run on diesel fuel . On the Haderslebener Damm, the banks of which are very easily accessible by walking paths, there are no more ships today. To date, the accident is tourists remained the biggest disaster in the recent history of the city Hadersleben.
literature
- Flemming Just & Poul-Erik Thomsen: Den tavse tragedie. Katastrofen på Haderslev Dam 8 July 1959 , Esbjerg 2009, ISBN 978-87-90549-29-9 .
- Bent Vedsted Rønne: Haderslev i det 20th århundrede. , Haderslev 2000.
- Dannevirke newspaper in the days after July 8, 1959.