[2] During the early hours of 14 December 2002, while traveling from Zeebrugge, Belgium to Southampton, U.K., with a load of nearly 3,000 automobiles, she collided with Kariba, a 1982 Bahamian-flagged container ship.

[4] Because of the location of the sunken vessel, at a point where two lanes combine in the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) of the English Channel and the Southern part of the North Sea and the fact that she was just completely submerged, the wreck was considered as a hazard to navigation.

[2] Following the sinking and due to its location in a busy point of a shipping lane (the location was on the edge of a turning-point within the TSS of the English Channel), the wreck was initially guarded by the French maritime police patrol boat P671 Glaive and HMS Anglesey (a 195 ft British Island-class patrol vessel), in addition to two salvage vessels and three wreck buoys.

[5] Despite standard radio warnings, three guard ships, and a lighted buoy, the Dutch vessel Nicola struck the wreck the next night and had to be towed free.

The cargo of 2,871 new cars – mostly from premium German and Swedish manufacturers including BMW, Volvo and Saab – was removed from the wreck and recycled for the metal component.