In the evening of February 12th, 2015 the Melanie’s German master and Czechian deckhand went into a dispute while the vessel was travelling en route from Bremen.
As it was sailing along the lock channel of the Weser lock in Langwedel, the boatman received notice regarding the termination of his work on the vessel. He then got ahold of a near-by hammer and destroyed everything that came across his eyesight. Police authorities arrived at 5:30 p.m., upon being notified of a hammer attack and emphasizing the grave possibility of potential danger to life or health.
Image: Sani von Pfani/paluba.eu
On site they determined that the boatman had not used the hammer to directly attack the captain, who only suffered superficial cuts on his hands. The deckhand, however, broke all of the wheelhouse’s windows and those of all accomodation rooms, along with damaging the instrument panel of the vessel's electronics which included the radar and steering gear and he even managed to break some parts of the engine and the bow thruster.
The vessel then got out of control and struck bottom, thus giving the boatman the opportunity to jump onto shore and make a run for it.
Authorities have initiated a search operation that has so far remained unsuccessfull. Expectations were that he was trying to get back home. The damage was estimated to be roughly around 90,000 Euro not including the losses of earnings.