Alcohol suspected in boating accident

Rescue Boat, stolen watercraft Sørfjorden Kristiansand drowning accidents drowned noticesRescue Boat. Photo: Redninsselskapet

Alcohol suspected in a boating accident in Kragerø

A major search operation was launched when a man in his twenties reported about a boat accident at Kragerø during the night before Sunday. The man is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol. The search for missing leisure boat with one person on board in Hordaland continues.

 

The man who notified about the accident arrived at the emergency room in Kragerø by the way of a boat. The police inform on Twitter that he suffered from a head injury and that his consciousness varied.

– He says he has been involved in a boat accident and that several people ended up in the in the sea, Operations Manager in the Southeast Police District, Tore Grindem, tells NTB. The first notice of the accident, which allegedly happened between Skåtøy and Jomfruland, was posted at 0.42 am.

Later it became apparent that the man had been alone in the boat – and that he had hit an islet before finding his way to the emergency room. The boat is beached nearby.

Drunk driving

Sunday morning, the police confirm that the man in his twenties probably wasn’t completely sober whilst driving.

– We suspect that the man has driven whilst under the influence of alcohol, Operations Manager in the Southeast Police District, Marianne Mørch, informs NRK.

White paint and fibreglass pieces corresponding to the damage to the boat are found on a nearby islet. The driver is an inhabitant of the Kragerø municipality.

– We do not know how much injury he has sustained at present. He is admitted to the hospital in Skien and will be questioned later. If that happens during Sunday is uncertain, says Mørch.

At the peak of the search, a rescue helicopter, the rescue boat «Uni Kragerø», a police boat and firefighters sought for a possible second vessel or persons who could have wound up in the water. The Help Corps of the Red Cross dispatched rescue divers from Bamble and Skien to assist the operation. The search was terminated at 3.30 am on Sunday.

Search for missing boat in Hordaland continues

The search for a leisure boat missing since Friday, with one person on board, continues on Sunday. The boat was en route from Sandnessjøen to Hjellestad.

The search for the missing leisure boat continues on Sunday with many crews involved, the Main Rescue Centre Southern Norway (HRS) reports.

The 31-foot recreational boat was reported missing at 10.33 on Friday morning. According to the Rescue Centre, the missing person, a man in his mid-fifties, was on his way to Hjellstad outside Bergen. The boat was scheduled to arrive at noon on Friday.

– We received a notification from a friend of the missing man that he thought something had happened to him. They were talking via phone when the mate heard something he thought to be abnormal, after which the line went dead. The mate did not succeed to reestablish the contact, and subsequently called us, Rescue Leader Andreas Bull informs NTB.

The boat was last observed north of the Fens Fjord, and the search is now taking place in the area of the Fens Fjord, Gulen and Austrheim. The Norwegian Coast Guard, the Rescue Company and the Red Cross have boats participating in the search.

Observations from the public of the missing boat are of great interest to the operation. The Main Rescue Centre and police are particularly interested in observations made of a small vessel that crossed the Fens Fjord from Brosmeosen to Vetegjøgra between 10 and 11 am on Friday.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today