Check out this an AIS animation below showing Thursday’s collision between an oil tanker and a Norwegian frigate taking place in the Hjeltefjorden fjord on the west coast of Norway.
As you can see, the tanker Sola TS had just departed a terminal with an escort tug alongside when it collided with the KNM Helge Ingstad, identified in the video as NATO WARSHIP F313, at around 0400 local time.
You can see the warship pop up in the video around the 20-second mark, indicating that it was not transmitting AIS at the time of the accident and likely switched on its AIS shortly following the collision.
The collision resulted in a large gash on the starboard side of the warship, causing it to take on water. Due to the damage and water ingress, the ship was intentionally grounded and crew evacuated.
The tanker, meanwhile, only suffered only minor damage to its bow.
Only 8 minor injuries have been reported.
The Norwegian Armed Forces are currently working the Norwegian Coastal Authority to respond to the incident, which now focusses on the cleanup of oil and stablizing the warship.
The KNM Helge Ingstad was returning from NATO-led exercise called Trident Juncture 2018 when the collision occurred.
The tanker had just departed Equinor’s Sture oil terminal with a cargo of crude. Reports indicate a pilot was onboard.
The animation was recreated by Genscape VesselTracker using automatic identification system (AIS) data.
