Other water sports enthusiasts had reported a person floating in the water off Kühlungsborn to the sea rescue service, and at almost the same time an unmanned nine-metre yacht under autopilot ran aground on Kühlungsborn's stone pier. The DGzRS vessel "Konrad Otto" from Kühlungsborn was on the scene just ten minutes after the report was made and was able to rescue the man floating face down in the choppy Baltic Sea. At the time of the accident, the wind was blowing from the north-west at around five force and there were waves of one to two metres.
The emergency doctor on land in Kühlungsborn then continued the resuscitation that had begun on board the DGzRS ship. At this point, the man still appeared to be alive, according to Christian Stipeldey, DGzRS press officer. However, he died shortly after being transported to the hospital by helicopter. The course of the accident is difficult to reconstruct, but there are some indications that the 66-year-old sailor wanted to sail to Kühlungsborn and went overboard during the preparations.
As it was initially unclear whether the man was sailing single-handed or whether there were perhaps other crew members in the water, a large search operation was launched with several DGzRS vessels as well as a police boat and the ocean-going tug "Baltic", which was stopped after almost two hours after investigations revealed that the man was only travelling with his dog, which the rescuers found on board.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
