Rocknes Disaster - State's Mapping Agency Charged

Just before sunset on Monday 19 January 2004 the bulk carrier M/V Rocknes suddenly capsized by the coast of Norway. It all happened within 2-3 minutes and there were several witnesses, including the guy who took these photos. The crew was trapped inside and a dramatic rescue operation was going on all night to get them out. There were 30 people on board and 18 died. Survivors have said M/V Rocknes hit either ground or rocks before she capsized.

Today they announced that those responsible for making and maintaining the seamaps, The state's mapping agency (Statens kartverk), just got charged. They knew about a newly discovered shallow in the narrow sound and did not report it.



Photos: Gisle Mellum


Photo: Marit Hommedal

"Rocknes was the world's largest fallpipe vessel before it overturned"

Related News Sources & Links:
TV2 Nettavisen: Kartverket siktet etter Rocknes-ulykken (in norwegian)
NRK: Kartverket siktet etter Rocknes (in norwegian)
Aftenposten: Statens kartverk siktet etter Rocknes-forliset (in norwegian)

Aftenposten: Three dead, 15 missing in ship disaster (in english)
Aftenposten: 'Earthquake' measurement was "Rocknes" impact (in english)
2004 Nightmare M-V Rocknes (in english)
ROCKNESSALVAGE.COM (in english)
Ship Technology - Rocknes Fallpipe Vessel (in english)
CNN: Crew trapped in capsized ship (in english)

[edit on 2006/4/23 by Hellmutt]

No prosecutions in the Rocknes case. And next week they will start shooting a documentary for Discovery Channel. The Rocknes disaster will be an episode of a documentary serie called "Blueprint for Diaster".

Aftenposten: No prosecutions in Rocknes case

22 Jun 2005

State prosecutors said Wednesday that they had insufficient evidence to pursue dereliction charges against the state mapping agency Sjokartverket and the local pilot in the capsizing of the freighter "Rocknes", which resulted in the death of 18 crew.

Police had accused the National Mapping Authority of failing to point out dangerous underwater rocks that the 166-meter (544-foot) Rocknes hit before capsizing on Jan. 19, 2004. Eighteen of the 30 crew, most Filipinos, were killed.

The prosecutor found the mapping agency had published new maps showing the rocks in 2003, and published the new information the same year in its regular "Notice to Mariners" report, and both were available before the accident.

However, the investigation revealed weaknesses in communication between the agency that makes the sea charts, and the Norwegian Coastal Administration, which employs the ship's pilots who use them.

The charges against the boat's pilot were dropped by police due to a lack of evidence.

Click the link to read the full article...

Related News Sources:
VG: Rocknes-forliset blir Discovery-dokumentar (in norwegian...)

And today (monday July 4th) Rocknes came back to Norway again. She has a new name and is now called "Nordnes". She has been fixed up in Poland and is now wider and more stable among some other changes. She behaved very well during the trip to Norway according to the Captain and she is now back in business. She will be doing some work with the new gigantic undersea pipeline from "Ormen Lange". They won´t tell us exactly how much they had to pay to fix her up, but it wasn´t cheap.

dn.no: "Rocknes" tilbake under navnet Nordnes (in norwegian...)

Norway has to pay 22 million NOK in compensation to insurance companies.


Dagbladet: Staten må punge ut etter Rocknes-havariet (in Norwegian)


Google translated article - Norwegian -> english

Compensation amounts are far lower than the companies claimed. Gard Gjensidige krevde alene vel 120 millioner kroner etter reduksjon. Farm Mutual demanded alone about 120 million after the reduction. De andre selskapene krevde 8,8 millioner euro. The other companies called for 8.8 million euro.

[---]

18 people lost their lives when the cargo vessel Rocknes capsized and sunken in Vatle river in the channel to Bergen 19. januar 2004. January 2004.