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CRASH

At least eight feared dead after Tunisian ship collides with migrant boat

At least eight people are feared to have died after a Tunisian warship collided with a migrant boat heading towards Italy on Sunday night.

Published: 9 October 2017 12:04 CEST
At least eight feared dead after Tunisian ship collides with migrant boat
Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP

Between 70 and 80 people were believed to have been on board the boat when the accident happened off the coast of Tunisia, from where there has been a recent increase in the number of migrants attempting the Mediterranean crossing towards Europe after Italy struck a deal in July to limit the flow from war-torn Libya.

Eight bodies have been recovered while around 20 people are still missing, Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) wrote in a tweet. Over 40 people have been saved in an operation coordinated by Malta's coastguard alongside colleagues from the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Belhassen Oueslati, a spokesperson for Tunisia's defense ministry, said the crash happened on Sunday night as the military vessel “approached an unidentified boat” about 54km from the Kerkenna islands.

“The boat collided with the military ship, causing it to sink.”

More details to follow.
 

HISTORY

Nazi warship found off Norway coast after 80 years

A Nazi cruiser torpedoed and sunk off the coast of Norway in 1940 has been found by chance at a depth of 490 metres (535 yards) during a subsea power cable inspection, the finders said on Thursday.

Published: 10 September 2020 19:16 CEST
Nazi warship found off Norway coast after 80 years
An element of sunken German WWII warship cruiser "Karlsruhe" is seen in this undated photo obtained by Reuters September 7, 2020. Photo: Statnett/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

“Sometimes, we discover historical remains. But I've never found anything as exciting as this one,” Ole Petter Hobberstad, a chief engineer at Norway's power network operator Statnett, told AFP.

The German navy ship Karlsruhe, measuring 174 metres (571 feet), took part in the invasion of Norway during World War II.

After troops had disembarked on April 9, 1940 it was hit by Norwegian artillery then torpedoed by a British submarine. Badly damaged, it was finally ordered sunk by the German captain off the port of Kristiansand, at Norway's southern tip.

Three years ago, Statnett's sonars detected an unidentified wreck close to a high-tension cable between Norway and Denmark, but the company's engineers did not have time to investigate further, Statnett said.

But on June 30, after a storm in the area, a team was sent out to inspect the wreck with a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV).

About 15 metres from the cable, the ROV “showed a huge shipwreck that was torpedoed. But it was not until the cannons — and Nazi symbol — became visible on the screen that Ole Petter Hobberstad and the crew understood it was from the war,” Statnett said in a statement.

Norway's Maritime Museum later confirmed that there was no doubt: the wreck was indeed that of the Karlsruhe, which had never been found.

The ship is located 13 nautical miles off of Kristiansand. It lies upright on the seabed, a rare sight for warships with a high centre of gravity which normally list over, according to experts.

Built in Kiel in northern Germany, the cruiser was launched in 1927.

 

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