Norwegian police said it has named three suspects over the collision of the Norwegian frigate ‘KNM Helge Ingstad’ with the the Maltese-flagged oil tanker ‘Sola TS’ off Bergen, in November 2018.
In the early hours of Thursday 8 November, seven people were slightly injured after the Norwegian frigate ‘KNM Helge Ingstad’ collided with the Maltese-flagged oil tanker ‘Sola TS’ off Bergen, Norway. The warship developed dangerous list and all of its 137 crew were evacuated.
KNM Helge Ingstad sustained significant damage as a result from the collision and sank a few days later, despite salvage efforts and was refloated in late February and taken to the port of Hanøytangen for investigation. Sola TS sustained superficial damage to her starboard.
Firstly, the prosecutor of the Western police district finds the pilot of ‘Sola TS’ suspected for violation of navigation rules, local media reported.
Second suspect is the head of the frigate of duty and responsibility on the bridge during the collision, for violations of the navigation rules, and for negligence causing an injury that could easily lead to loss of human life.
Meanwhile, an employee at the local Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) at Fedje is also suspected.
In its preliminary report published shortly after the incident, the Accident Investigation Board Norway (AIBN) reached an initial deduction that confusion on the frigate’s bridge during watch turnover was the approximate cause of the accident.
Furthermore, the report indicates that, at distance, it would be difficult to separate the lights on the tanker from the lights at the terminal. Also, the lights did not move as the tanker was still alongside quay. It is possible that these factors gave the crew on ‘KNM Helge Ingstad’ the impression that the lights belonged to a stationary object.
But as it is clearly stated in the introduction of the report, this is preliminary and it may consequently contain some errors and inaccuracies.
