American woman killed, 5 others rescued after Viking ship sinks off Norway

A woman has died and five other people have been rescued after a model Viking ship capsized off Norway’s west coast overnight, Norwegian authorities said on Wednesday.

Police said a woman was found dead in the water near the sunken ship, but did not provide any information about her identity or nationality.

Norwegian media said she was an American citizen in her 20s.

“Five people have been rescued and are in good health,” emergency services wrote on their website.

Helicopters, rescue boats and several nearby ships battled high waves and strong winds throughout the night in the rescue operation.

The 30-foot open Viking, which is powered only by sails and oars, had sent out a distress call earlier in the evening, but when boats and a helicopter arrived on the scene, the call was deemed a false alarm. The daily newspaper Verdens Gang (VG) said:.

An hour later, another distress call was sent out, and this time a large-scale rescue operation was launched.

The Norwegian Coast Guard vessel KV Bergen eventually found the boat, VG reported.

The five were rescued by helicopter from a lifeboat.

The men were wearing life jackets when they were pulled out, a police spokesman told VG.

The tragedy occurred about 60 miles off the west coast of Norway. Henrik Zachariasen, a spokesman for the rescue company that helped search, told VG that there were waves of up to 15 feet and strong winds in the search area on Tuesday evening. A video posted by VG showed a rescue boat sailing through rough seas and heavy rain in the dark.

The wooden ship was on its way from the Faroe Islands to Alesund in Norway when the accident occurred, VG reported.

The VG newspaper said that those on board the ship were adventurers from the Faroe Islands, Switzerland and the United States, and they were trying to make a journey similar to that made by the Vikings more than a thousand years ago.

This incident comes a few days after the luxurious incident. Luxury yacht sinks off Sicily coastBritish tech entrepreneur killed Mike Lynch And his 18-year-old daughter, in addition to five other people.