Norwegian Frigate Sinks After Collision with Maltese Tanker

The Norwegian frigate, “KNM Helge Ingstad" sunk after it collided with a Maltese tanker, “Sola TS” in western Norway after the cables holding it in place broke.

"The vessel is now lying immobile in deeper water," the head of the Navy's rescue operation, Havard Mathiesen was quoted as saying by The Nation news daily Tuesday.

KNM Helge Ingstad weighing around 5,000 tonnes took on water after colliding with the Maltese oil tanker early Thursday in the Hjeltefjord near Bergen.

The cause of the accident is yet to be determined. Eight of 137 people on board the frigate were injured. The frigate was returning from NATO's Trident Juncture 18 exercises.

The tanker, the Sola TS, suffered only minor damage.

The KNM Helge Ingstad had until Tuesday been partially submerged as it rested on underwater rocks, which its crew had driven it up on in order to try to prevent the ship from sinking. But the cables holding it in place broke overnight Monday to Tuesday, and the ship sank further under the water, the report stated.

The Norwegian Navy said it was now considering ways to raise the vessel, the military's chief of staff, Admiral Nils Andreas Stensones, said.

"It's very hard for a navy to lose a vessel," he said.