The search was called off for a ship that sank in the North Sea and ended with little hope of finding the remaining crewmen.

The cargo ship Baltic Ace sank in the freezing waters off the coast of the Netherlands on Wednesday after a collision with another vessel.

Rescue efforts saved the lives of thirteen crewmen, according to Yahoo News.

Four of the crew was found dead on Wednesday and another was discovered the day after by a Belgian rescue helicopter. The other six undiscovered crewmen are presumed dead, marking the presumed death toll at 11 souls.

Authorities stopped the search around 2 a.m. Wednesday having given up hope of finding any more survivors as the icy condition and rough sea state has made further survival virtually impossible.

"Given the water temperature and the amount of time that's passed, we don't have any hope for more survivors," Peter Westenburg of the Dutch Coast Guard said.

The 485-foot vessel sank after colliding with the 440-foot container ship Corvus J. The two ships hit each other in the night while traveling along a busy shipping lane around 40 miles off the southern Dutch coast.

An investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the collision which Polish television reported was due to human error. Allianz, the naval marine insurance agency for the vessel, was unable to comment on the cause which may have been due to a host of problems.

Traffic buoys have been laid in the water to designate the area where the ship sank to manage the traffic in the busy shipping lane.

The Baltic Ace was carrying a cargo of cars when it sank with a crew of 24 aboard.

The crew consisted of sailors from Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine and the Philippines. It's unclear at this time about the identities of those who survived and died from the incident.