On the night of October 9, the ferry "Lisco Gloria" north of Fehmarn caught fire. On board:more than 200 passengers. About a rescue that was possible thanks to quick reactions.
by Isabelle Breitbach
They have only just laid down when the fire on the "Lisco Gloria" breaks out:the more than 200 passengers who are sleeping in their cabins on the way to Klaipeda; Hannes Wasmuth, a few nautical miles away, on the Baltic Sea ferry "Deutschland"; and also Uwe Marxen, district manager of the water police in Kiel.
The news of the emergency call from the captain, the burning ferry north of Fehmarn, reached Wasmuth and Marxen around midnight. Neither of them knows more. But none of them need to know more to be wide awake in one fell swoop. Ready to act.
General alarm wakes Captain Wasmuth
Captain Hannes Wasmuth regularly commuted between Puttgarden and the Danish town of Rødby with the "Deutschland". He wasn't supposed to be on board that night. "It was an absolute coincidence. Late in the afternoon I got a call that a navigator was unavailable. So I drove to Puttgarden and got on board." A couple of trips, end of shift at 11 p.m., off to the bunk. He shouldn't lie there for an hour. "Around midnight I was awakened again." A general alarm. "Then I immediately asked:What's going on?"
This question also crossed Uwe Marxen's mind in Kiel. One of many the police officer faced that night. The first call at midnight, then changing information. "There should have been an explosion on the ship." For a long time he didn't know what to do, whether he had to go or not, what situation he would find himself in and what about people.
The "Deutschland" changes course
When Hannes Wasmuth still thought that "no one would get off the "Lisco Gloria" alive", federal police officers were already pulling people into lifeboats.While Uwe Marxen was waiting for instructions, the "Deutschland" changed course. Helping was a duty for the crew, as the largest ship was nearby. They were eleven nautical miles away from the "Lisco Gloria", half an hour at full power. Fire all over the ferry. The crew could see the glow of the fire from afar. "Nobody gets off this ship alive, it looks like," thought Hannes Wasmuth. That everyone was already down:a surprise for him.
The captain of the "Lisco Gloria" quickly decided to evacuate. A federal police boat picked people up from the lifeboats on site. Fast, cool reactions to which Hannes Wasmuth still takes his hat off to this day. He and his colleagues took more than 200 rescued people on board to take them to the next safe haven:Puttgarden.
Rescued people take the ferry to Kiel
But they shouldn't go there. The CCME decided on Kiel because of the better logistics. And so, after anxious hours, Uwe Marxen finally got his assignment:to receive the "Deutschland" at the Tirpitzmole and determine whether all the passengers and crew members of the "Lisco Gloria" were rescued and on board. He didn't have much time to prepare. The "Deutschland" was now on its way.
course for keel. A decision that Hannes Wasmuth had to accept, even if he couldn't understand it. Because of the traumatized people on his ship, he says:"You have to imagine:They come from a burning ship and have to take the ferry for two hours to get back to where they started. Of course, there's also a certain mental cinema going on." An extraordinary situation in which he and the entire team had to try, above all, to provide people with information and to keep them happy until they arrived. Shipwrecked like own passengers.
Police officer Marxen has to keep his nerve
Memories come up:Policeman Uwe Marxen was waiting for the rescued passengers at the Tirpitzmole in Kiel.Five teams, pens to mark, registration forms for personal details:This is how Uwe Marxen expected the "Deutschland" with the distressed ships on the Tirpitzmole. "One hopes that everything went well. Of course we don't have any shares in what is happening at sea." He remembers well the man who met him at the pilot's gate early in the morning. He went on board with Hannes Wasmuth, across the two decks full of rescued people, exhausted and barely dressed.
"They jumped into the lifeboat. That's a sight that moves you," says Marxen today. But he had to keep his nerve. Record all castaways by name, with communication problems because almost all came from Lithuania and Russia. Always compare passenger and crew lists. 249 people had been reported as saved, but actually only 236 should be on board. "That turned out to be wrong. Everything was fine."
"God intervened"
Only in the afternoon was it finally clear:everyone on board the "Lisco Gloria" could be rescued. All survived. Uwe Marxen looks back gratefully on this mission, for the positive outcome, for the many helpers who played their part, the good cooperation, also the luck that such a large ship as the "Deutschland" was there and people could absorb.
"The relief was incredibly great," remembers Hannes Wasmuth. He also likes to think about that night. One would experience something like this once in a lifetime, if at all, he is sure of it. "I have to look up," he says, looking at the cloudy sky over Puttgarden:"God must have had his hand in there, I think so. It was a lot of luck. But luck isn't everything."