Sunday afternoon, 18 October: a Danish-flagged fishing boat caught fire in the Skagerrak, midway between Norway and Denmark. Four people were aboard. They got onto a life raft. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre South (HRS Sør) brought them in. This is not a death toll.

At 15.10 Per Ivar Austnaberg, rescue leader at HRS Sør, told VG: a fishing boat, in the middle, appears to be on fire; smoke seen at a distance. The cause of the fire, VG writes, is not yet known. We have not written a technical accident, an explosion or a judged wreck.

At 15.35, still Austnaberg: the four are safe. Taken aboard a small boat from the cruise ship AIDAnova, which he described as Italian. None of them is said to be injured — his words, not a hospital diagnosis. The nationality of the four is not known. No names.

NRK Sørlandet: rescue helicopters from Norway and from Denmark. NTB, carried by Adresseavisen: a helicopter from Sola, plus a Danish helicopter; the Coast Guard (Kystvakta) and a rescue boat were sent. Resources were stood down once the four — and there were supposed to be four — were accounted for. The emergency phase, around 15.40, was closing.

Color Line’s SuperSpeed 1, on the Kristiansand–Hirtshals run. VG: it was heading from Hirtshals towards Kristiansand, then turned towards Denmark to help. After 15.30 it was released from the job, because the people were already safe. It changed course; it did not take the four off. AIDAnova did.

The raft was taken ashore. The fate of the boat that burned remains unclear. We have not written that it sank. Austnaberg thanked the civilian boats that gathered. This text is not a criminal inquiry.

Image: AIDAnova leaving Kiel, 8 July 2023, HenSti, CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The ship, not the fire in the Skagerrak.

Sources consulted: Fiskebåt sto i brann i Skagerrak: Danskebåten snudde — VG; Nødsignal fra fiskebåt: Fire personer var ombord — NRK Sørlandet.