Nine missing after vessel collision on Amazon River

The containership Mercosul Santos collided with a tug boat pushing several barges upriver on the Amazon early Wednesday morning, leaving nine of 11 tug crew members missing.    Nine people have gone missing in a collision between containership Mercosul Santos and a tug boat on the Amazon River early Wednesday morning, according to local media reports.
   The 2,478-TEU vessel collided with the tug boat approximately 78 miles from the port of Santarem as it was pushing barges upriver. The tug, along with a few barges it was guiding, sank, with all 11 tug crew members on board. Two crew members were rescued, while the remaining nine have yet to be found.  
   “Search and Rescue resumed operations at first light this morning to search for the nine missing tug boat crew members following a collision between a tug boat on the Amazon river and Mercosul Santos at 4.40am (local time) August 2. A Mercosul rescue boat was deployed immediately following the incident, together with a tug boat from Bertolini, in addition to fishing boats who assisted in the search for survivors,” according to a statement from a Maersk spokeswoman to American Shipper.
   According to Maersk Line, the crew members of the Brazilian-flagged boxship are safe. The sunken barges were owned by Bertolini, according to local media sources.
   “Mercosul has offered its full assistance to local authorities in the ongoing Search and Rescue operation. Our immediate concern is for missing crew members and we will continue to liaise and collaborate with authorities. Local authorities are conducting an investigation into what happened,” the spokeswoman said. 
   The ship is owned by Mercosul Line, a Brazilian subsidiary of Danish Maersk Group. The company was recently sold to CMA CGM as part of Maersk’s acquisition of north-south specialist carrier Hamburg Sud.