Greek-owned oil tanker collission with Norwegian warship

Eight Norwegian sailors were slightly injured in the collision. The KNM Helge Ingstad had been returning from Nato military exercises.

The frigate is taking a lot of water, almost capsizing, and was for a long time in danger of sinking.

Weather in the area is good and the frigate is on the ground just by the shore. Like other naval vessels on duty, frigate carry weapons, like missiles, torpedoes and depth charges.

The Aframax tanker "Sola TS" is not in danger and no oil-spill is reported from the tanker. There are some 625,000 barrels of crude oil on board.

It was not clear what had caused the collision, which reportedly occurred shortly after 04:00 (03:00 GMT), and led to 137 people being taken off the warship.

The Maltese-flagged vessel had left the Equinor's Sture oil shipment terminal with a cargo of North Sea crude, Reuters news agency reports.

Sture, the major export oil terminal, was shut down temporarily as a precautionary measure.