Rubber boat accident on the Maas in Maastricht: one person drowned (Lanaken)

Perhaps the two were fishing in the Maas in their rubber boat. But due to the strong current in the direction of the Borgharen Dam, they sailed through the sedimentation with buoys towards the Dam. The canoe ended up in the dam, after which the passengers on board were in the water. It was about a father and a son.

The Dutch fire service arrived by boat at around 1pm to search for the people in the icy water. On the banks of the Maas, ambulances, fire brigade and police went to search for people on board.

In the end one person could be rescued from the water, but for another drowning person, all the help came too late. The body was found a little further, near Itrine. It is not yet clear if it is about the father or the son. The origins and ages of the two victims have not yet been released. Dutch police have closed the roads to Maas on Borgharenweg to traffic. Just over three hours later, the Maas firefighters’ lifeboat was removed again.

Also on the Belgian side of the Maas, at Maasdijk in Smeermaas (Lanaken), the East Limburg fire brigade came to the scene from Maasmechelen with lifeboats, as did the Lanaken-Maasmechelen police. If someone on board is swimming towards Belgium, they can spring into action. But this turned out not to be the case, after which the Belgian emergency services left again.

A frontiersman in Semirmas watched it all happen. “I immediately got my binoculars and noticed a body in the water drifting toward Lanaken,” says the man on the bank at Borgaren. A search helicopter also came. The boat may have gone past the dam at Borgaren, but there are buoys hanging there. If you end up in cold water in this weather and with a high water level, you have little chance.”