Norwegian ship with six crew sinks

FOTO: MYKLEBUSTHAUG MANAGEMENT

A Norwegian-registered cargo ship has sunk off the west coast of Sweden with six crew members on board, maritime officials said on Friday.

The ship, named Langeland, got into difficulties after being battered by stormy weather off the coast close to the Swedish town of Strømstad.

The crew was made up by four Russian and two Ukrainian nationals. “No bodies have been found as yet. We have a helicopter and aircraft searching the area now. We found life rafts and wreckage from the ship. We also found patches of oil,” said Christer Fjaellstroem, a duty officer for the Swedish coastguard. The 2,500-tonne, 70-metre long Langeland was on its way to the port of Moss in western Norway and was carrying a cargo of stones, maritime officials said in a statement.

In a separate incident on Friday, a Panama-registered cargo ship ran aground off Norway’s south coast, causing an oil spillage. Norwegian authorities said the Full City ran aground early Friday just west of the town of Larvik, 130 kilometres south of Oslo. All the 23 crew members were Chinese and 16 had already been evacuated by helicopter, a Norwegian rescue services spokesman said on Friday. Nils Ole Sunde, a duty officer with the Norwegian coastguard, said the vessel was leaking oil after running aground on some rocks one kilometre from the coast. Sunde added that seven crew members were still on board but were not in any immediate danger. Sunde said the Full City had been carrying 1,120 tonnes of oil at the time but had no other cargo.

Source: AFP