Rhine River Reopens After Chemical Tanker Salvage

The Rhine River fully reopened to shipping on Monday, one month after a tanker carrying sulfuric acid capsized.
Rhine River Reopens After Chemical Tanker Salvage
Rescuers carry a body they have found inside a tanker on Feb. 13 near Sankt Goarshausen after searching the ship that carried nearly 2,400 tonnes of sulphuric acid that capsized on the Rhine river last month. (Thomas Frey/AFP/Getty Images)
Cindy Drukier
2/14/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/109046540.jpg" alt="Rescuers carry a body they have found inside a tanker on Feb. 13 near Sankt Goarshausen after searching the ship that carried nearly 2,400 tonnes of sulphuric acid that capsized on the Rhine river last month. (Thomas Frey/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Rescuers carry a body they have found inside a tanker on Feb. 13 near Sankt Goarshausen after searching the ship that carried nearly 2,400 tonnes of sulphuric acid that capsized on the Rhine river last month. (Thomas Frey/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1808351"/></a>
Rescuers carry a body they have found inside a tanker on Feb. 13 near Sankt Goarshausen after searching the ship that carried nearly 2,400 tonnes of sulphuric acid that capsized on the Rhine river last month. (Thomas Frey/AFP/Getty Images)
The Rhine River fully reopened to shipping on Monday, one month after a tanker carrying sulfuric acid capsized, closing shipping lanes in the busy German waterway, Reuters reported.

The Waldhof sank on Jan. 13 near the narrowest stretch of the river. Over the weekend, salvage crews worked to remove the ill-fated tanker from the shipping lane.

The tanker was carrying about 2,600 tons of dangerous acid, which made the salvation particularly challenging.

Instead of risking the rupturing of the ship, which would have released a massive acid shock to the ecosystem, authorities decided that they would opt for allowing a slow leak, thus giving the river a chance to dilute the acid as it seeped into the water, according to German newspaper Deutsche Welle.

Two crew members survived, but the bodies of the other two still have not been recovered.
Cindy Drukier is a veteran journalist, editor, and producer. She's the host of NTD's International Reporters Roundtable featured on EpochTV, and perviously host of NTD's The Nation Speaks. She's also an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her two films are available on EpochTV: "Finding Manny" and "The Unseen Crisis"
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