Tragic loss for international hydrographic community
- On 05/09/2012
- In Miscellaneous
- 0 comments
From Hydro International
On 31 August, the survey ship Level A collided with a Belgian-propelled barge on the Rhine at Basel, Switzerland, and capsized.
The four crew members fell overboard.
Although Professor Dr Volker Böder, director of the project and professor of geodesy and hydrography at the HafenCity University Hamburg (HCU), was rescued, he sadly died in hospital the following day as a result of his injuries.
Despite a large-scale search operation, the skipper of the Level A has not yet been found.
The two other crew members survived the accident. The Level A was commissioned by the Basel urban construction and transportation departments and in collaboration with the Swiss Rhine ports active in Basel, tasked with testing new equipment and technologies for measuring the shipping lanes in the Rhine.
Boat and crew had arrived at Basel earlier that week and were due to remain working on the Rhine in Switzerland for a further two weeks.
Professor Dr Volker Böder made an enormous contribution to encouraging young professionals to join the hydrographic industry.
Add a comment