A Viking river cruise ship collided with what is described as a cargo ship yesterday, resulting in injuries to two passengers on the cruise ship.
The Viking Hermod was sailing on the Rhine River near Speyer, Germany when a cargo ship reportedly turned directly into its path. The Viking Hermod tried reversing at full power but the ensuing collision damaged both vessels. The river cruise ship sustained damage to its bow (photo below left); the cargo 
ship (photo right) ended up grounding.
A passenger on the Viking Hermod who wishes to remain anonymous sent us this information. He stated that damage to the cruise ship has been covered with a large canvas.
The Viking Hermod is sailing a 7 day, one-way cruise from Amsterdam to Basel. The cruise started on July 5, 2022 and is scheduled to end on July 12, 2022.
The last accident involving a river cruise ship in Europe occurred two months ago. Eleven people were injured when another Viking river ship, the Viking Aegir, struck a bridge over the Danube River in Slovakia.
As with this case, the company quickly placed a tarp over the bow of the Viking ship to try and hide the damage.
Danger with River Cruising
The most dramatic disaster involving a river cruise ship occurred three years ago when the Viking Cruises’ Viking Sigyn collided with and sank a sightseeing river cruise ship, the Hableany (“Mermaid”), in Budapest three years ago (in May 2019). The Mermaid quickly sank in approximately seven seconds, killing 25 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew members.
Several crew members (who wish to remain anonymous) identified the captain of the Viking ship, who was arrested by the local police, as Yuriy Chaplinsky.
You can see video of the accident as the Viking Sigyn overtook and ran the smaller tourist vessel over as the two ships approached the Margit Bridge in central Budapest here.
The criminal trial involving this incident began in March 2020 and continued throughout 2020. The outcome of the trial had not been decided. The civil trial filed by the survivors and families of the deceased South Korean passengers began in Budapest in January of this year. A final result has not been decided.
In September 2016, another Viking River Cruises’ ship, the Viking Freya (right), struck a rail bridge, 
crushing the wheelhouse and killing two Hungarian officers who were navigating the river ship. The ship was on its way to Budapest at the time of the deadly accident. (125 people left comments to our article with many former Viking customers defending the inexcusable accident).
In December of 2017, the M/S Swiss Crystal river cruise ship collided with a highway bridge on the Rhine River near Duisburg, Germany, injuring 30 passengers.
On March 21, 2019, the Scylla Edelweiss experienced an electrical fire and collided with a cargo ship, the Forenso, on the Waal River in the Netherlands.
On April 1, 2019, a collision occurred between the river cruise ship, the Viking Idun, and a tanker, the Chemical Marketer, while the ships were sailing from Antwerp to Ghent. Four passengers were reportedly injured.
On May 21, 2019, an unidentified river cruise ship (some identified the ship as a Viking longship) with 183 passengers aboard, forgot to lower its wheelhouse and struck a bridge in an incident similar to the Viking Freya mishap. Fortunately, no one was killed.
If you are aware of other accidents involving Viking River Cruises or other river cruise ships please let us know.
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