Norwegian rescue team saved sailors outside Kola Peninsula
18.12.2007
A rescue team from the Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Centre has saved all 12 sailors in a wrecked Russian vessel outside the Fisherman Peninsula on the coast of the Kola Peninsula. The operation was conducted together with Murmansk emergency services.
Russian authorities this morning requested assistance from the Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Centre after a vessel with 12 sailors on board had run ashore on the Fisherman Peninsula west of Murmansk city. The Norwegian King Sea helicopter managed to pick of the sailors and bring them safely to the hospital in the Norwegian border town of Kirkenes.
All sailors are reported to be in physical shape.
The Fisherman Island (Poluostrov Rybachi) is located just few kilometers from the Norwegian border. The Norwegian King Sea helicopter took off from the Banak air base at 7.40 am Norwegian time and arrived at the site at about 10.30.
There is storm in the area, and Russian emergency services are reported to lack helicopters suited for the operation.