A joint Norwegian-Dutch salvage operation defied heavy seas to get an abandoned Dutch cargo ship under control off the coast of Norway and was towing the ship to port.
Norwegian officials said the rescue operation of the Eemslift Hendrika, a Netherlands-registered ship designed to carry large boats, was completed early on Thursday and the ship is slowly being towed to the western city of Alesund.
The ship’s crew of 12 was rescued by helicopter late Monday after a power outage in its main engine.
The Norwegian Coastal Administration, based in Alesund, launched salvage operation late Wednesday as it became clear that churning seas could make the drifting ship crash into the shore.
The vessel has substantial quantities of diesel and fuel in its tanks, which could have caused an environmental disaster.
Norwegian maritime authorities issued an emergency alert late Wednesday and started preparations in case of an oil spill.
The Eemslift Hendrika was adrift in the area where the North Sea and Norwegian Sea meet.
Salvage experts were lowered onto the sharply listing ship on Wednesday to attach towing ropes to waiting tug boats.
One large boat aboard the deck of the six-year-old cargo ship fell off in heavy seas on Tuesday but was found by the Norwegian coast guard and secured to another tug boat.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here