More than 30 people injured when boat runs into dock on Svalbard

Barentsburg. Accident at Svalbard.Photo: Sysselmannen på Svalbard / NTB scanpix

37 people were injured, one of them seriously, when a speedboat collided with a dock in Barentsburg on Sunday. Ten of the injured were flown to Tromsø for treatment.

 

One of the speedboats engines will increased speed, which meant that the boat drove into a quay at a speed of five knots according to NRK news.

It was at 10.15 on Sunday that the police were told that the fast-paced Catamaran Aurora Explorer collided with a dock at Barentsburg. There were 121 passengers and a crew of four on board.

The University Hospital of Northern Norway informed NTB news on Monday morning that they had received ten people as a result of the accident.

“One of them, a French woman in her 60’s, was seriously injured, while the others had from mild to moderate injuries,” said hospital communications manager, Hilde Annie Pettersen.

Several other passengers, all slightly injured, are at the hospital in Longyearbyen.

Governor Arve Johnsen announced in Svalbard that no drunkenness is suspected.

The boat that collided with the quay transports tourists and day passengers between Longyearbyen and the Russian settlement and the mining town of Barentsburg.

Faroese authorities will investigate the matter, as the vessel is registered in the Faroe Islands.

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today