Hello Sailor! Newly rebuilt historic German sailing ship sinks after collision

A collision between a vintage sailing ship and a container vessel in Germany has injured five people and sunk the wooden ship which had just been restored at a cost of €1.5 million.

A large, newly restored 1883 sailboat sank after a collision with a container ship on Saturday on the Elbe in Germany. Facebook/Firservces of Stade

The 43 passengers and crew aboard the "No 5 Elbe" were rescued after the vessel was in collision with the Cyprus-flagged container ship Astrosprinter on the Elbe River at Stade near Hamburg around 1230 GMT Saturday.

The 37-metre-long pilot schooner, built in 1883, was Hamburg's last remaining seagoing ship from the era of wooden ships and could be rented for harbour excursions, according to local media reports.

The ship had just been renovated over eight months in a Danish shipyard where it was fitted with new outer wooden planks and a new stern.