Schiffkatastrophe 1964: Environmental downfall of the Magdeburg unveiled!

Schiffkatastrophe 1964: Environmental downfall of the Magdeburg unveiled!

A fateful October in seafaring: On October 27, 1964, a ship's disaster occurred, one of the most difficult in the history of the GDR. The 10,000-ton freighter Magdeburg , on the way from London to Havana, Kuba, with a valuable load of 42 buses from the manufacturer Leyland, collided with the Japanese freighter Yamashiro Maru in Thames near Tilbury. This is reported by the ARD Mediathek and describes the dramatic events that resulted more than just material losses.

at point 01:23 a.m. the captain of the Magdeburg suddenly saw the lights of the large ship in front of him. There was a collision in which the Yamashiro Maru ram the taxboard side of the Magdeburg . Thanks to the courageous intervention of English tractors, the entire crew of 57 seafarers could be saved, although there were no deaths.

the circumstances and the assumptions

What really happened on this fateful day? The background of the collision raises questions that have not yet been finally clarified. Was there a conscious introduction of the collision? Journalist: Interior of the 1970s reported possible CIA knacks that aimed at disturbing the trade with Cuba. More precisely, it was about the buses that were subsequently lost and offset by salt water damage. American secret services may have an interest in weakening the communist regime after the United States had already imposed an economic embargo against Cuba in 1960.

The Magdeburg itself should ultimately be repaired in the Tilbury Docks, but sank later in the Atlantic under mysterious circumstances. Rumors state that the captain deliberately sank the ship. The salvage, which was to take place at Broadness Point , turned out to be extremely complicated. The first attempt to recover the ship in Mars in 1965 failed, while a second attempt was successful in July of the same year. Two floating cranes were even used here. On July 7, 1965, the wreck was up to a 20-degree angle, which is the "most difficult rescue operation" in the history of Thame, according to the Port of London Authority.

aftermath and documentation

In the current documentary "Lebensricht", the catastrophe including the rescue operation is reconstructed by contemporary witness interviews. Together with the lake unshaped expert Hans-Hermann Diestel, the incident from 1964 is meticulously pursuing. The question of whether it was a tragic misfortune or the result of a secret political activity remains unsolved to this day. At that time witnesses are certain: the tragedy has shaped the maritime story and political tensions between east and west. So can we find out the whole truth about the collision of Magdeburg and the yamashiro Maru , or does we only have the legendary character of this narrative?