Norwegian officials said a Norwegian frigate collided with an oil tanker off the country’s coast, injuring at least eight people.
The crew of 127 people was evacuated over fears that the frigate might sink, The Associated Press reported on Nov. 8. The collision happened as it was docked on Norway’s west coast, the military confirmed.
The eight injuries on the KNM Helge Instad were described as not serious, AP reported.
Eirik Walle, with a rescue agency, said the ship “is taking in more water than they can pump out.”
“There is no control over the leak and the stern is heavily in the sea,” Walle continued.
The Maltese-flagged tanker, Sola TS, wasn’t damaged and the 23 people on board the ship weren’t injured.
The cause of the accident is not clear.
About 10,000 liters of helicopter fuel from the frigate’s tanks leaked into the sea, said Johan Marius Ly of the Norwegian Coast Guard, AP reported. The fuel is expected to evaporate.
“We have been told that there is a leak from the frigate. It should be a helicopter fuel, but the extent of leakage is unknown,” Johan Marius Ly of the Norwegian Coast Guard told The Drive.
The 442-foot frigate was built in Spain in 2009.
Photos posted on social media show the ship tilted at an odd angle. It also appears that the crew ran the ship aground.
“Not sinking, but not healthy. Good job they were able to run her aground,” observer Matthew Warwick wrote on Twitter.
Norway’s largest oil and gas company, Equinor, told AP that it shut down non-emergency services “as a precautionary measure.”
