Norway's frigate almost completely under water after collision with oil tanker

The Norwegian navy frigate that had collided with an oil tanker last week off Norway's western coast sank almost completely under water on Tuesday, public broadcaster NRK reported.

After the collision of the KNM Helge Ingstad frigate and the Malta-registered Greek Aframax tanker Sola TS on Nov. 8 outside the Sture Terminal, an oil terminal 50 km northwest of Bergen, Norway, the Norwegian Navy has been working on securing the frigate with wire ropes.

Early Tuesday morning, however, all the wire ropes holding the frigate to the land broke and now there were only radar tower and parts of the fence above the water, NRK wrote.

"It is unbelievably sad. First and foremost, we are pleased that the crew is well. Losing a vessel is unbelievably sad. There are great values and an important military capacity," said Norwegian Chief of the Navy Nils Andreas Stensones.

Stensones confirmed that the goal was to save the vessel, but that the extent of the damages was till unknown.

He also said that the Norwegian Navy, in accordance with the Accident Investigation Board, decided to conduct an internal investigation of the accident.

The frigate took a lot of water as the collision led to a large hole in its side. Eight people on board the navy ship suffered minor injuries while the tanker sustained only slight damage.