norwegian whaling ship sunk
The Norwegian whaling vessel ‘Willassen Senior’ was sunk in the northern harbor city of Svolvaer on Thursday evening, August 30, 2007. The following is a translation of an original Norwegian News Report:
Norway: Whaling Vessel Sunk
The night before Friday, the whaling vessel Willassen Senior sank in the North Norwegian harbor city of Svolvaer. No person was onboard when the 89 foot long vessel sank. It could have been sabotage.
“At this point we can’t discount anything,” says the police chief in Svolvaer, Jon Martin Bye, to the tv-company NRK.
Norwegian whaling vessels have many times earlier been sabotaged. In 1992, there was a failed attempt to sink the ship Nybraena, that however experienced damages of hundreds of thousands of kronor. In 1997, saboteurs failed to sink the whaling vessel MS Elin-Toril.
In May investigators followed ‘Willassen Senior’ and obtained footage of a minke whale being hunted and eventually killed over a two-hour period. This whale is one of almost 800 of its species that Norway plans to slaughter before the end of the summer. Investigators witnessed the whale being hit by a grenade-tipped harpoon, then repeatedly resurfacing and splashing frantically before it finally died more than 14 minutes later. During this time, the whale was also shot with a rifle seven times. The footage was captured off the coast of Vardo, Norway last month by WSPA and EIA investigators.