Cargo ship on fire off Norway

The DFDS Seaways Danmark cargo ship Britannia Seaways, with 32 souls on board is on fire off Norway. The vessel is a RO-RO (Roll On- Roll Off) ship, carrying a military cargo from northern Norway to the city of Bergen after an exercise. The fire is reported to be under control, but helicopters are attempting to lift the crew off, but weather is hampering efforts to remove them.

It was reported that the fire started in the boardroom. The vessel is carrying military vehicles, ammunition, and fuel as well as 12 soldiers. They were attempting to remove 12 people from the ship, but had to cancel the attempt due to a North Sea storm in the area. The fire is reported to be limited to that area of the ship, but they haven't been able to extinguish it yet.

Nov 16 (Reuters) - The 32 crew of a Danish cargo vessel on fire in the North Sea off Norway were trapped on board on Saturday night as a storm prevented rescue helicopters lifting sailors off.

Three helicopters were scrambled from Norway to assist the Britannia Seaways, operated by the Danish firm DFDS, about 80 miles (130 km) off the town of Floroe, said Per Fjeld, a spokesman for Norway's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.

"The first helicopter made an attempt to lift 12 of them but the attempt was abandoned because of bad weather," he said. "They are not in immediate danger."

in.reuters.com...

reply to post by Zaphod58


Back in my day sailors knew how to swim!

reply to post by ItCameFromOuterSpace


As long as they've got the fire under control they will be safer onboard the ship, it's a hurricane out there.

The AIS shows currently shows her steaming at 11.4 Kn, on a 74 dgs course for Bergen.

There are at least two other ships in the area, including a tug, and a military vessel, if they get in trouble. Their best bet is to head to port, and get fire crews on it, if they can't put it out themselves. The helicopter crews may also try again to get at least some of the people on board off.

reply to post by Zaphod58

The Norwegian coastguard is top notch, and if they had to abandon the fight, the weather must be quite bad.

GCaptain is reporting averaging 50 foot waves in very heavy winds.
gcaptain.com...

The fire is aft, but they clearly haven't engaged the below decks on-board fire suppression system because it would kill the engines, and that would expose the vessel to mercy of the sea. A sea state 5 to 8 could capsize a ship that size rather quickly without power.

Second Ro-RO fire in a week for Norway; someone must not like these ships. Way too many accidents involving military vessels in the last year for these to all be accidental. It is a statistical improbability. Going to be a rough night for those poor mariners.

AX
FTNWO

AlphaExray
reply to post by Zaphod58

 

The Norwegian coastguard is top notch, and if they had to abandon the fight, the weather must be quite bad.

Yes it is bad, full storm gusting to hurricane.

Their only hope is to get to the closest port, Florø or Bergen.