Zodiac acci­dent in Kross­fjord: woman dead (II)

Some more details regar­ding the dead­ly Zodiac acci­dent in Kross­fjord on Mon­day have been published. It has now been con­firm­ed that the ship invol­ved was the Sea Spi­rit, which is curr­ent­ly under char­ter by Quark Expe­di­ti­ons, an Ame­ri­can expe­di­ti­on crui­sing com­pa­ny, well known in the busi­ness. The vic­tim was an US-Ame­ri­can woman in her six­ties. The acci­dent hap­pen­ed during a Zodiac crui­se near the nor­t­hern side of Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta in Kross­fjord. All 13 per­sons fell into the water as the Zodiac was hit by a lar­ge wave. One woman lost her con­scious­ness and died then for reasons not yet known in detail. Three more per­sons were inju­red, two of them were sub­se­quent­ly trea­ted in the hos­pi­tal in Lon­gye­ar­by­en.

Fur­ther details have as of yet not been published. Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta is reason­ab­ly well shel­te­red from hea­vy seas. A wave lar­ge enough to cau­se a Zodiac to cap­si­ze might come from a very mas­si­ve cal­ving of the gla­cier or in case of extre­me wea­ther. It seems likely that a dri­ving mista­ke was invol­ved. Shal­lows near the litt­le bird cliff on the north side of Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta may have play­ed a role: in case of a lar­ge wave rol­ling in from the gla­cier, it may be harm­less over deep water, but break over a shal­low. This may cau­se a boat to cap­si­ze. All this is, howe­ver, pure spe­cu­la­ti­on; we have to wait for more con­firm­ed infor­ma­ti­on.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen

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