Search-and-rescue operation under way after British cargo ship reportedly sinks

The Verity cargo ship had departed from Bremen, Germany (Alamy/PA)

A search-and-rescue operation is under way for the crew of a British cargo ship which sank after colliding with a vessel in the North Sea.

The British-flagged Verity reportedly hit another, larger, cargo ship, Polesie, in the early hours of Tuesday, about 14 miles southwest of the German island of Heligoland.