It is every houseboat owner’s nightmare: a sinking ship. It happened to Erik Schoonus from Son en Breugel on Tuesday morning. His houseboat filled with water. The Fire Brigade arrived quickly, but could no longer keep the boat afloat. It’s a big setback for Erik. “I just got a new boat for some recreation”.
Erik has his own kitting company and together with his son he got off the houseboat this morning to get to work. “Then the boat started to rock a little. It went fast. I wanted to hold the boat up, but it cracked in my back. The boat was suddenly gone. You lose everything within five minutes”.
The houseboat was just new and ready to use. Erik had therefore cancelled the lease on his home. “I have to leave my house on Wednesday. I wanted to relax on the boat and work from here occasionally, otherwise I will sleep at my girlfriend’s house”.
It is not yet known what caused the houseboat to sink, but Erik does have an idea. “There are two tubes under the boat, the floats, that keep the ship stable. I think one of the floats had a leak and slowly filled with water”.
Stopped pumping
Erwin Baron of the Son en Breugel Fire Brigade says that he initially managed to pump out the water. “The level dropped, but as soon as we stopped pumping, the water gushed back into the boat”, he explains. “That happened so fast that we had to leave the boat. It happened within a few minutes”.
The Fire Brigade does not know whether Erik’s houseboat can still be saved. The boat is still being lifted to the side to see what the cause is and whether anything can be repaired. Erik fears the worst. “We are checking whether anything remains of it at all, but the inside is made entirely of wood and light materials. So you can write on the walls anyway”.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
