Ship pulled free after running aground near Norway home
AFP | Oslo
Salvagers yesterday pulled a cargo ship, which made world headlines for running aground a stone's throw from a house in Norway, back into the water, the head of the company managing the operation said.
A Ukrainian sailor in his 30s was on watch at the time and said he had fallen asleep, according to Norwegian police, who have charged him with 'negligent navigation'.
The NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just metres from a wooden house around dawn on Thursday.
'It's good to have said hello, but now it's time to say goodbye' the occupant of the house, Johan Helberg, told broadcaster NRK on Tuesday.
The containers on the ship, except for those removed to lighten the bow, are still on board and will be unloaded this evening, Ole T. Bjornevik, the managing director of BOA Offshore told AFP, adding that the operation only lasted 30 minutes. 'She has just been refloated,' and an inspection is underway, he added.
The Ukrainian seaman has said none of the cargo ship's collision alarms had worked, prosecutor Kjetil Bruland Sorensen told news agency NTB.
The investigation will also look into whether the rules on working hours and rest periods were adhered to on ship, according to police.
Helberg, also slept through the incident and only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbour called him on the phone.
None of the 16 crew members were injured.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Tribune
2 days ago
- Daily Tribune
Israel military raids West Bank camps
AFP |Ramallah, Palestinian Territories Israeli troops raided two Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank's north overnight, the military told AFP, as Israel presses offensives on multiple fronts. The military told AFP that at "around 4:00 am Israeli forces entered Balata camp", near the northern city of Nablus, for "a routine counter-terrorism operation". It added that the troops had been deployed to the nearby Askar camp prior to the operation in Balata camp. Imad Zaki, head of the popular services committee of Balata camp, also told AFP that the military began its raid at 4:00 am (0100 GMT) on Wednesday. "They closed all entrances to the camp, seized several homes after evicting their residents, and ordered the homeowners not to return for 72 hours. These homes were turned into military outposts and interrogation centres," Zaki said. "The soldiers are conducting house-to-house and neighbourhood-to-neighbourhood searches, destroying the contents of homes and physically assaulting the residents," Zaki told AFP. He added that life had been "largely paralysed" for the camp's residents but that no injuries were reported. In a separate statement, the military said that its forces had "neutralised" one Palestinian overnight in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja near Jerusalem. They said that as the troops were deployed in the area, a Palestinian armed with a knife "attempted to stab (Israeli) soldiers who were operating in the area and steal their weapons". "The soldiers responded with fire and neutralised the terrorist," the army said, using a term it normally uses when someone has been killed. The Israeli military said Tuesday that its forces had been active in various parts of the Jenin area, in the northern West Bank. It said in a statement that its forces had arrested five Palestinian militants suspected of planning attacks on Israel. Throughout the Gaza war, violence in the West Bank -- a separate Palestinian territory -- has soared, as have calls to annex it, most notably from Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Since the start of the war in October 2023, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 939 Palestinians, including many militants, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Over the same period, at least 35 Israelis including civilians and soldiers have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids, according to official Israeli figures.
Gulf Insider
3 days ago
- Gulf Insider
Largest Russian Strikes In Months Hit Ukrainian Capital, Killing 15 & Wounding Over 100
Russia overnight unleashed one of its largest and sustained attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in recent months, resulting in 15 people killed and over one hundred wounded. The assault, which lasted some ten hours, involved a coordinated barrage of drones, ballistic, and cruise missiles – and severely impacted residential areas, including a direct hit on a nine-story apartment building in the city's Solomyanskyi district. Part of the building collapsed after being struck by Shahed drones and a ballistic missile. Emergency crews were responding to the smoke-filled scene through the morning hours. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 'every minute the number of injured and dead is increasing, we cannot say for certain how many casualties there have been.' Speaking to journalists at the scene, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 'every minute the number of injured and dead is increasing, we cannot say for certain how many casualties there have been.' The aftermath of the attack has been documented at two dozen separate sites across Kyiv's Solomianskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Darnytskyi, Dniprovskyi, Podilskyi and Obolonskyi districts. City authorities indicated fires raged into Tuesday in at least to locations of the capital, and further described: 'Today, the enemy spared neither drones nor missiles,' Klymenko said, describing the attack as one of the largest against Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. Thirty apartments were destroyed in a single residential block, and emergency services were searching through the rubble for possible survivors, Klymenko added. Attempting to get Washington's attention, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha suggested the 'massive and brutal strike' was deliberately timed and so is a serious insult to President Donald Trump. 'Putin does this on purpose, just during the G7 summit. He sends a signal of total disrespect to the United States and other partners who have called for an end to the killing,' he stated on social media. There are reports that an American citizen died in the attack. 'During the attack on Kyiv, a 62-year-old U.S. citizen died in a dwelling in the Solomianskyi district opposite where medics were providing assistance,' Klitschko said. 'Medics noted his clinical, biological death.'
Daily Tribune
4 days ago
- Daily Tribune
Amsterdam police 'overtaken' by speed of attacks on Israel fans: report
AFP | The Hague, Netherlands Amsterdam police trying to contain attacks on fans of Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv in November were overwhelmed by assailants' hit-and-run tactics and rapid incitement via social media, according to a report published on Monday. The violence in the early hours of November 8, 2024, followed two days of skirmishes that saw Maccabi fans chant anti-Arab songs, vandalise a taxi and burn a Palestinian flag. The attacks left five people briefly hospitalised. Police acted with "great commitment, flexibility and professionalism", concluded the report by an oversight body in the justice ministry. Authorities were able to deploy 1,200 officers, drones, arrest squads, horses and water cannons but were still caught off-guard by the fast-moving events. "Although the police acted decisively, they were also overtaken at times by the speed and unpredictability of developments," the report noted. "Blitz attacks by small groups of rioters, using taxis and scooters to move around quickly and target Jewish people on the streets, made different demands on the approach taken by the police." Social media was another key factor in making the violence difficult to contain, the report said. "People were able to spread messages and images at lightning speed, thereby heightening existing tensions," it noted. "Relatively minor incidents, such as the removal of a Palestinian flag by Maccabi supporters, were shared, interpreted, and magnified within minutes." The report also criticised reactions in the immediate aftermath of the violence. Israeli President Isaac Herzog talked of an "anti-Semitic pogrom" while Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema drew parallels between the violence and "memories of pogroms". She later regretted this, saying the word had been used as propaganda. "What stands out is the speed with which everyone expressed an opinion in the aftermath of the events," said the report. "Politicians, administrators, and the media immediately jumped to conclusions, without having any insight into exactly what had occurred."
