Ferry must be towed to shore in Hordaland

Helgøy is a ferry belonging to Torghatten Nord. Photo: Torghatten Nord

Ferry with over 100 passengers must be towed to shore

The ferry MF «Bastø II», trafficking the Halhjem-Sandvikvåg connection on the E39, has suffered an engine failure in Bjørnafjorden. The ferry with 102 passengers aboard has to be towed to shore. That takes time.

 

At 1.49 pm, about 20 minutes after departure from Halhjem, the Main Rescue Center Southern Norway was notified that the vessel was drifting.

The sea is calm in the area, so there is no danger to life or equipment.

Two smaller tugboats initiated towing of the ferry back to Halhjem around 3.10 pm, but the task was too large for them, according to Bergens Tidende.

A larger tugboat arrived at 4.30 pm. At 5 pm, over three hours after the engines stopped, the passengers had not yet been brought ashore.

The Public Road Traffic Centre informs NRK that the backup ferry, MF «Marsteinen», has been deployed to service the connection. It cannot achieve the same speed. There will, therefore, be cancellations and delays on the connection throughout the afternoon and evening of Sunday.

Torghatten Nord took over the operation of the connection on January 1st, and the problems have been abundant for the ferry company ever since. The ferries they are about to use on the connection are delayed from the yard, The company has, therefore, hired four ferries for the duration. This has led to a number of cancellations. MF «Bastø II» is one of the hired vessels.

The latest information is that the vessel is pushed along by the fireboat BB «Server».


© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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