An enormous container ship ran aground off a German island in the North Sea, authorities said on Thursday.
According to its shipping company, the 400-metre Mumbai Maersk vessel became stranded on a “shallow patch” on Wednesday night.
Maersk said that “all 30 crew members are safe, there is no pollution and no sign of hull breach”.
The shipping company added that the stranded ship was not obstructing the major German port of Bremerhaven.
Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said several tugs and other ships were sent to assist the vessel during the night.
The authority added no one was injured, but a first attempt to move the ship into deeper water had failed.
The ship had been en route from Rotterdam in the Netherlands to Bremerhaven when it ran aground, 6 kilometres north of the island of Wangerooge.
Maersk said that additional tug boats were being deployed, and another attempt to free the marooned ship would be made at high tide later on Thursday. An investigation was launched into how the ship became stuck.
The Danish-flagged Mumbai Maersk belongs to a small group of very large ships that can carry over 18,000 containers.
