BARENTSBURG CRASH UPDATE (5:20 P.M. FRIDAY): Coast Guard and governor prepare for second night of searches; Russian plane arrives as Danish one departs

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Darkness descended on Barentsburg late Friday afternoon after several hours of searching the sea near the settlement by twilight without success for a helicopter that crashed with eight people aboard a day earlier. Rescue ships from the Svalbard governor’s office and Norwegian Coast Guard are preparing for a second night of what is still officially classified as a search-and-rescue mission.

“We are still searching for survivors,” Geir Mortensen, a spokesperson for the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre of Northern Norway, told Svalbardposten. “The exploration action has not gone beyond to be search for presumed victims. We have also not set any time for when that will be applicable.”

A Russian plane carrying rescue personnel and equipment was scheduled to participate in rescue efforts after arriving. A Danish military plane that participated in the search Thursday and Friday is returning to Greenland after its efforts were unsuccessful, according to NRK.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.

marksabbatini@yahoo.com

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