The labour party requires external scrutiny

Secretary of defense Frank Bakke-Jensen presented today to Parliament about the sinking of the " "Helge Ingstad".

Secretary of defense Frank Bakke-Jensen discusses the Parliament about the sinking of the " Helge Ingstad. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB scanpix Show more

It is planned now that the raising of the sunken", which still lies under the water on the shore of Øygarden in Hordaland county, can start on Thursday.

the price tag for the rescue and salvage was today estimated at a half billion dollars, of the secretary of defense.

Dramatic near-miss

Hill-Jensen also told me about a dramatic episode in the rescue, along with the weather contributed to that repudiation of the contract is delayed.

the Moorings of one of the companies involved smoke, and the wire fell down on a punt. Fortunately without hitting personnel. This incident was considered to have high skadepotensial, " says Bakke-Jensen.

the defence minister presented to the Parliament that the loss of " has damaged Norway's defence capability and that the ministry of defence are now working with different options to replace it.

Hill-Jensen referred to the fact that it is the Aibn and the police who have the full picture and that the Armed forces and the ministry is awaiting their conclusion of what happened, but that nothing currently indicates that there was a single event that was the fault in the accident.

How could this happen?

Martin Kolberg (Ap) was clear that the public must get full information about what happened on the night of 8. november, when the "Helge Ingstad" collided with tankskipet "the Sun".

- This is an event that is completely unique and special in our military defence history. It is, of course, so that mistakes can be made, but it is as the defence minister also said on a different show a very serious incident, we here face. It is time, almost three months after the shipwreck, that the secretary of defense explains, said Kolberg.

Kolberg also want more information about what happened the night when the accident happened, before the board's report is available.

How could this happen? How could a state of the art naval vessels colliding with a tanker after several clear warnings, which we in fact have heard?

- It is, of course, so that the Aibn and the police have the full picture and that we shall await it, but the preliminary report and the information we have received, suggests that tankbåten was confused with the country. It is a piece of information that raises more questions than it provides answers, said Kolberg.

Notify the external scrutiny

Kolberg notified also that the Labour party will demand an external investigation of the first part of the bergingsarbeidet, which is not covered by the board's work.

" There is reason to suspect that the first part of the rescue operation were not well enough planned, said Kolberg.

Kolberg stated that the Labour party is willing to discuss with the government how the loss of " to be replaced, but added:

- in our opinion, it is not appropriate to fund such losses, in such a way that it hides the costs. The costs must come on the table, said Kolberg, and asked the government to come back to Parliament with an issue about this.

the Government is open in its platform for, among other things, to buy a replacement for the wrecked " KNM "Helge Ingstad" to the 4 billion – without passing the expense on your regular budget. the