British Ferry Carrying 650 Capsizes Leaving Belgium : 260 Rescued; Divers Hunt for Others in Icy Waters

A British ferryboat carrying as many as 650 people to Dover, England, hit a harbor wall and capsized off this port city tonight, and about 260 were rescued from the icy waters, officials said.

There was no immediate word on casualties. British, French, Belgian and Dutch authorities marshaled a major rescue operation.

A spokesman for Zeebrugge port control said 200 people had been picked up, but there was no immediate word on their condition.

Sixty more people were spotted in the water being picked up by small boats, said Jim Ohly at Lloyds shipping information service.

Divers went down to try to rescue passengers believed still trapped in the vessel, lying off the port of Zeebrugge, about 50 miles northwest of Brussels, while ships and helicopters were sent to the scene.

Third Still Above Water

Only a third of the 7,951-ton vessel, the Herald of Free Enterprise, was still above water, witnesses said.

The Belgian coast guard said that the ferry was “completely turned onto its side” with the funnel in the water and that several people had been picked up by helicopters in the immediate aftermath. The British Broadcasting Corp. said the ferry, which had just left Zeebrugge for Dover, was at the entrance to the harbor.

The Maritime Rescue Coordination Center at Plymouth, England, said the ferry hit the harbor wall at Zeebrugge.

The London Weather Center said sea temperatures were 39 to 41 degrees. Sea swells were reported at two or three feet and winds were between 12 and 18 m.p.h., said the Zeebrugge port spokesman.

“It will be very cold for anybody thrown into the water,” he added.

The French national news agency Belga said many passengers were floundering in the sea, while Radio Ostende said “several people” were in the water.

‘Not Many’ Overboard

A Dutch vessel Quo Vadis, near the ferry, reported “not many” people overboard, according to a spokesman for the Dutch pilot service in Vlissingen, the Netherlands.

A British coast guard spokesman in Dover said the ferry had 590 passengers and a crew of 60 on board.

Other reports put the total on board lower, at between 460 and 520.

The British coast guard spokesman said French and British rescue services are assisting. Two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters with divers from the Royal Air Force base at Culdrose flew to Belgium.

A pilots’ spokesman said, “A large-scale rescue action has been gotten under way--all kinds of materiel is going there.”

A Belgian coast guard spokesman said that two helicopters were on the way to the scene and that several vessels were en route.

Listing as It Left Port

The 7,951-ton ship was built 1980 in Bremerhaven, West Germany, and is registered in Dover. It is owned by Townsend Thoresen, a British company.

A spokesman for Radio Ostende, Belgium’s maritime radio service, said the vessel began to list at 7:50 p.m. “just as the ferry was leaving the port of Zeebrugge” for Dover.

French naval officials in Cherbourg, France, said the French dredger Capricorne was diverted from dredging operations in the North Sea to aid the rescue effort.

Initial reports conflicted on just what happened.

The British coast guard said that the ferry sank and that it carried 650 people. But the Center for Surveillance and Rescue in Jobourg, France, said the ship capsized and had 463 people aboard.

The ferry runs regularly between Zeebrugge and Dover, England.