The frigate is now almost completely underwater. Authorities are now uncertain about the consequences.
On the 9th of November, a tanker loaded with oil on its way to the UK collided with the frigate KNM “Helge Ingstad”. The incident happened in the heart of the busiest salmon farming region in Europe.
Despite efforts to salvage it, the vessel is now almost completely submerged according to Reuters.
Worried
On Thursday, when the accident occurred, Martin Blom, a salmon farmer at Blom Fiskoppdrett, said that they were told that there would be no toxins/spill from the frigate. Now they are more uncertain.
“We have many facilities nearby, obviously we are worried about any toxins from frigate which has now sunk completely,” Martin Blom told SalmonBusiness earlier today.
Blom said they have recently put out fish in three farms nearby. Now the fear is growing that toxins from the KNM “Helge Ingstad” can damage fish in nearby plants after the frigate sank on Tuesday.
It looks like it’s about to leak some oil
“This can have consequences for us. The frigate is located in the middle of our production area. From the pictures it looks like it’s about to leak some oil,” said Blom.
He said that they were in constant contact with the fire service, but that they have not yet received any assurances about either one or the other.
Earlier this week, the Armed Forces and the Coastal Administration had confiscated all booms (floating, physical barriers to oil) in the area. Now Blom has also got access.
“We have received booms so that we can protect ourselves if there is a spill,” Martin Blom concluded.
Salvage
The Norwegian military has been working since Thursday to salvage the ship by tethering it with several cables to the shore. Some of these had broken.
“The ship sunk a meter further and, as a result, two wires broke. They were replaced with two stronger ones. We worked until midnight on this. After midnight, we realized it was not safe for our staff to carry on the work further,” said Haavard Mathiesen, the head of the salvage operation for the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency told Reuters.
“Around 0600 (0500 GMT), more wires broke and the ship sank further. It is now in deep water and stable,” he told a news conference.
