Power failure on ferry "Funny Girl" leads to hours-long rescue operation

Bild: wikipedia.de
On the evening of Sunday, October 6, 2024, the passengers of the ferry "Funny Girl" experienced a journey that turned out differently than expected. The ship was on its way from Helgoland to Büsum and was scheduled to arrive at its port of destination at around 19:30. However, a technical incident occurred around 30 minutes after casting off: a power failure rendered the ship unable to maneuver. According to a spokesperson for the Elbe-North Sea Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA), such a power failure is not unusual and can usually be rectified using the ship's own resources. Unfortunately, this was not possible in this case.

According to the shipping company, however, the situation remained under control. The passengers remained calm and the weather also cooperated, as the sea was fortunately calm. Two tugs came to the rescue and pulled the "Funny Girl" safely into the port of Büsum. At 02:15 early Monday morning, all 250 passengers reached the port safely. No one was injured.

According to media reports, the cause of the power failure was a defective switchboard in the engine room. This led to the failure of both generators and the engine cooling system. The emergency generator was also unable to feed power into the on-board network, which further complicated the situation.