Search ends for Filipino crew member lost off German coast

BERLIN – Rescuers have ended their search for a 24-year-old Filipino crew member who fell from a cargo ship off the German coast during a storm over the weekend, officials said Monday.

The Danish-flagged freighter Santa Clara reported the woman had gone overboard while working early Sunday, prompting a search-and-rescue response with several ships and a rescue helicopter.

Efforts to find the woman in the frigid, choppy North Sea were unsuccessful. Germany’s maritime rescue service said Sunday the water temperature was 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit), air temperature was minus 8 C (17.6 F) and gusts reached more than 100 kilometres per hour (62 mp).

The Santa Clara is currently docked at Bremerhaven, where maritime police have been assigned to investigate the incident, said Bremen police spokesman Bastian Demann.