Overview

• Salvage crew used a floating crane relocated from Rostock alongside divers and Technisches Hilfswerk support to raise the 24-metre vessel over July 15–16.
• After hoisting, operators towed the cutter under the Rügen Bridge and through the opened Ziegelgraben Bridge to reach the Port of Stralsund.
• The Rudolf Virchow has been secured on a specialised heavy-transport cradle for further damage assessment and eventual disposal.
• Oil containment booms deployed around the wreck site were monitored throughout the operation with no significant pollution reported.
• Authorities stepped in after the shipowner failed to arrange recovery, and the Waterways and Shipping Office Baltic Sea is investigating the unknown cause of the sinking.