Company from the city Rotterdam deploys a special Grab

Smit Tak will salvage the wreck
containing a girl from Hoorn

ROTTERDAM – The salvage company Smit Tak, Rotterdam within several months, will raise a sunken sailing ship in Greece, with the mortal remains of an inhabitant of Hoorn still inside. Smit Tak will deploy a special grab to lift the wreck from the bottom in the Aegean Sea.

The "Jason" sank in May 1994 off the island of Patmos after the ship was rammed in the night by a Turkish freighter. The 89-foot (27-meter) wooden ship lies at a depth of 443 feet or 135 meters. In the wreck still lie the mortal remains of 29-year-old Emmy Nijssen from Hoorn (Holland) and the 32-year-old Greek  engineer. Another Greek, Emmy's fiancé, survived the collision.

Emmy's parents want the body of their daughter to be brought to the surface. According to Mr. H. de Vries of Metaldec International, Zevenbergen, which already joined the operation at the end of 1996, an agreement has been reached with Smit Tak for a salvage attempt in May or June. Smit Tak itself declined to make a statement. According to Mr. H. de Vries, the salvage is possible because this autumn Smit Tak must carry out another task with a huge grab in the Aegean Sea (south of Greece). The attempt to lift the Jason to the surface will be carried out with this device.

Identification:
As soon as the ship has been brought onto land, volunteers will search for the two drowned persons on board. The mortal remains of Emmy's body are to be brought, after identification, to the Netherlands to be cremated. All data necessary for identification already lie, according to Mr. H. de Vries, already at the Dutch embassy in Greece.

According to Mr. H. de Vries, the operation will cost around 80,000 guilders. Of this amount, the especially set-up "Emmy Nijssen" foundation has already received 50,000 guilders. The rest, according to Mr. H. de Vries, they hope to receive from companies and the city of Hoorn.

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Of course this is not necessary any more because the project is unfortunately ended. This article was written in 1998. The operation "JASON" was ended in the last week of October 1998.