AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dozens of containers with items including flat-screen televisions have washed up on Dutch islands in the North Sea after a ship lost part of its cargo in heavy seas, bringing a windfall for local treasure hunters.
Heavy machinery lift a Maersk cargo container after it washed up on a beach in Vlieland, Netherlands January 2, 2019 in this still image obtained from social media video. (Frank Sarton via REUTERS)
The Dutch Coast Guard said up to 270 containers had fallen off the Panamanian-flagged MSC ZOE, one of the world's biggest container ships, in rough weather near the German island of Borkum and floated southwest toward Dutch waters.
Containers broke open on the shores of the Dutch islands of Terschelling and Vlieland. Others were floating or stranded off the coasts of Ameland and Schiermonnikoog, part of a chain of islands that guard the Dutch coast.
The Coast Guard warned ships in the area to beware of floating containers. Three containers holding hazardous materials have not yet been located, the Coast Guard said.
Dutch media reported that local treasure hunters had found an array of items from containers whose contents had spilled, including light bulbs, car parts, Ikea furniture, clothing and toys.
Local media carried pictures of groups of people congregating around beached blue containers and one carrying off what appeared to be a flatscreen TV still packed in foam.
Such material is considered flotsam, and residents of the islands have a centuries-old tradition of collecting it.
It was unclear if the goods were water-damaged.
The mayor of the island of Vlieland, Tineke Schokker, said that the municipality doesn't mind scavenging.
"It's just really nice of people," she told local news agency ANP. "Processing it would cost more than the stuff is worth, and anyway with the two officers we have it would be impossible to guard, the stuff is littered over the whole beach."
A spokesman for the ship's operator, MSC, had no immediate comment.
A load of dangerous chemicals that fell off one of the world's largest container ships into the North Sea washed up on a Dutch beach on Thursday, and more debris was expected to land overnight, officials said.
The Dutch Defense Ministry said the loss of 270 containers from the freighter MSC Zoe on Wednesday, some of them thought to contain hazardous chemicals, was one of the biggest incidents of its kind, they said.
It was unclear how many of the containers sank to the sea bottom and how many were still floating and could pose a hazard to marine traffic or beach scavengers who turned out in response to reports of the cargo spill.
A 25-kg (55-pound) bag of organic peroxide, a strong bleaching agent that can cause injury on contact with skin, was swept ashore on Thursday, among dozens of containers from the ship to have appeared on or near the Dutch islands of Terschelling, Vlieland, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog.
"The expectation is that more things may wash up on beaches tonight," Defence Ministry spokesman Sjaak Van Elten said.
At least three of the containers were thought to contain hazardous chemicals.
Dutch soldiers were summoned to help clean up the mess. Emergency services warned volunteers not to touch the containers, but scavengers and treasure-hunters also flocked to the jetsam, which included shoes, dolls and flat-screen TVs.
The peroxide was removed by emergency crews without incident, Friesland provincial authorities said.