| |
| Situation Update No. 2 Ref.no.: VIV-20100304-25204-SWE
Situation Update No. 2
On 2010-03-05 at 15:13:42 [UTC]
Event: Vehicle Incident
Location: Sweden Baltic Sea Between Stockholm and the Alan Islands Situation: In the Baltic Sea, north of Stockholm, at least 51 vessels, including some ferry ships with thousands of passengers on board, were blocked by ice, announced the Swedish Maritime Administration. Nearly 1,100 people were trapped Thursday on two passenger ferries and two cargo ships that got stuck in ice Thursday, and rescuers were on standby to evacuate them if needed, officials said. The passenger ferry Viking Amorella and the roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry Finnfellow collided in difficult ice conditions. According to the Swedish Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), there were 900 people aboard the Amorella and 84 on the Finnfellow. It said that the passengers were in no immediate danger. The Finnfellow proceeded on its way Thursday evening, and the Amorella was released from its icy grip later in the night. The centre says the mishap occurred at 4.40 pm Finnish time, when heavy ice pushed them together amid winds of 15-20 metres per second. It occurred between the Tj rven lighthouse and the mouth of the Furusund inlet which leads in to Stockholm. Sweden has suffered an extremely cold winter, with temperatures well below freezing since December.
|  | | | |
This blog offers a compilation of recent news and world events given by RSOE-Emergency and Disaster Information Service, Reuters News Agency, BBC News , CNN International and Al Jezeera News
