The standby vessel "Havila Troll," which undertakes tendering duties in the Oseberg and Troll area, rescued the crew of three from the Danish trawler "Heidi Christine" which started taking in water and sank on Tuesday evening. "It's good to know how well crew and equipment work in a real situation," says chief officer Øystein Høgseth, who took part in the rescue operation.
"Havila Troll" is a specially-built standby vessel equipped with a man overboard rescue boat. The vessel covers areas around Hydro's and Statoil's installations in the Oseberg and Troll areas.
On Tuesday the crew and vessel demonstrated their abilities in a real situation. Three Danish fishermen from the trawler "Heidi Christine" from Hanstholm were rescued from their liferaft less than 15 minutes after their mayday call.
"This is something we train for regularly. Last night we showed that the equipment is effective and the crew quick to launch the man overboard boat and rescue the people onboard. We’re obviously very happy to be of assistance when people are in distress," says Øystein Høgset from the bridge on "Havila Troll".
"Havila Troll" was taken into operation in the fall of 2003. This is the first time that the vessel has taken part in an actual rescue operation.
The weather in the area was good with a gentle breeze and one to two meter high waves. The three Danish fishermen were in good form, and were served dinner onboard "Havila Troll" before being transported to land by helicopter.