(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The Norwegian naval vessel that collided with a tanker last week was warned multiple times via radio communication about the impending collision, Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang reported, citing a recording of the communication.
The recordings, published at the weekend, reveal the tanker, TSSola, told the frigate to move to starboard four times.
Although there were no signs of an oil spill from the 250-metre long tanker, which was transporting crude oil when hit by the frigate on Thursday, the incident prompted a police investigation into the cause
of the crash, which injured eight of the frigate's 137-strong crew.
According to the recordings, published late on Saturday, the captain of the tanker called the Fedje VTS traffic centre three minutes before the collision to ask which ship was heading their way.
The traffic centre suggested it could be the navy vessel Helge Ingstad frigate, which had just entered the fjord, near an oil and gas terminal in the western Norwegian municipality of Oygarden in Hordaland.
After being called by the tanker, the response from the Helge Ingstad was: "then we will come too close to the blocks." It is not yet clear what that meant.
The recording shows the tanker calling the frigate another three times, saying "Helge Ingstad, you need to do something, you're getting very close. Helge Ingstad! Turn! We are going to collide."
The Norwegian military has not commented on the report. The police and the state's emergency committee have taken over the investigations.
The Helge Ingstad was commissioned in 2009. It took part in a large NATO exercise, codenamed Trident Juncture, and it was on its way to its home base, Haakonsvern near Bergen.
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