BERLIN: One person has died and four are missing from the crew of a cargo ship that sank after colliding with another vessel in the North Sea, German authorities said on Tuesday. Two crew members from the sunken ship were rescued, German Sea Rescue Society (DGzRS) spokesman Christian Stipeldey said. The body of one man was recovered.

The collision happened about 22 kilometers (13 miles) southwest of the island of Helgoland, which is just off the German mainland, according to the German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME). Several ships are involved in a rescue operation in the area, the agency said. There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision.

The water temperature at the time of the accident was about 12 degrees Celsius (54 Fahrenheit), which experience shows people can survive for about 20 hours, Michael Ippich of the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service said.

The British-flagged Verity, which was on its way from Bremen to the UK town of Immingham, sank shortly after the collision. The other ship was the Polesie, under a Bahamas flag and travelling from Hamburg to La Coruna in Spain. The Polesie is owned by the Polish shipping company Polsteam.

The Verity, owned by the British company Faversham, was the smaller vessel with a length of 91 meters (almost 300 feet), compared to the Polesie’s 190 meters. The Polesie was still afloat with 22 people on board, the CCME said. “The emergency services are doing everything they can to rescue the missing people,” German Transport Minister Volker Wissing said in a statement. “My thoughts are with the crew members, their relatives and the rescue teams who have been in action since early this morning.”

Two rescue cruisers, an emergency tug, a pilot boat, a police patrol boat and a helicopter were helping with the search, according to the CCME. “We will not stop the search and rescue operation as long as there is still a small chance of finding survivors,” DGzRS spokesman Stipeldey said. Rescuers were considering the possibility that they were still inside the Verity and planned to send divers down to the wreck at a depth of about 30 meters (98 meters) to check whether there are any signs of life, Robby Renner, head of the emergency command, said. “The conditions on the spot are extremely difficult,” he said. “Because of the weather and visibility under water, it’s incredibly difficult to conduct such an operation.” – Agencies