Hans Hedtoft (1959) ~ Death toll – 95 Often called the ‘Little Titanic’ or the ‘Danish Titanic’, the 2,857-ton freighter, Hans Hedtoft was tagged with a jubilant label of the ‘safest afloat’. Despite that, on its return maiden voyage, from Godthabb to Copenhagen, it hit an iceberg, on January 30, 1959, about 20 nautical miles southeast of Cape Farewell. The SOS was responded by a West German trawler Johannes Kruss, and, amidst high waves and snow squalls, it strived to pick up the faint traces of the distress signals.But when it reached the last reported position, there was no sign of Hans Hedtoft. Rescue operations followed up for many days, but the only identified piece of wreckage was a life buoy which washed ashore nine months later, on Iceland. The sinking of the Hans Hedtoft remains an unsolved mystery, which took away the lives of 95 people onboard – 40 crew and 55 passengers.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 02:03:31 +0000
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