Tourist Ship Runs Aground on Rhine

Fifty people aboard a German tourist ship were injured on Sunday when the ship ran aground near the legendary Loreley cliff, south of Koblenz. A police spokesman said 10 people were seriously hurt but that none of the injuries were life-threatening. The evacuation of the 349 passengers on board the ship, also called "Loreley", took just over three hours, blocking traffic on the Rhine until late Sunday evening. The cause of the accident is still unclear. Despite unusually low water levels on the Rhine in recent weeks, officials from the Köln-Düsseldorfer (KD) shipping company, which owns the "Loreley", said the water levels should have been sufficient. A KD spokesman said the captain reported touching ground twice, after which he lost control of the ship's steering.