New Year Ship Tragedy Becomes Other People’s Fortune

Flat-screen televisions and children toys washed up on the shore

The MSC Zoe, one of the largest container ships in the world, lost 270 containers during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. Some of the goods have been washed up on the shore of the Wadden Islands.

The tragedy occurred in the waters above the German island of Borkum, one of the Wadden Islands. The ship can transport approximately 19,000 containers but it hasn’t been confirmed how many containers the ship was carrying prior to the tragedy.

Eighteen containers have already been located, three are stranded on Vlieland and four on Terschelling. The rest are floating between Ameland and Schiermonnikoog.

The cargo of the containers consists of Ikea furniture, toys, TVs, car parts, light bulbs, and chairs. Operating in 41 countries, IKEA is a global destination store for home furnishing, appliances, ready-to-assemble furniture, home accessories, and kitchen products.

The Coast Guards adviced ‘looters’ or ‘treasure hunters’ against touching any item washed to the shore but that couldn’t stop the people. There are concerns over organic peroxide in powder form stored in three of the containers that have been thrown overboard.

That is what the Dutch Coast Guard reports. It is not yet clear whether those three containers have already been washed up. It is also unknown how dangerous the organic peroxide is. '

It can be one of two types: one can ignite at 50 degrees above zero, the other is only pollutes, “but in both cases, it is not something anyone wants,” says a Coast Guard.