Shipwreck removal started
Removal of the wreck of the Russian cruiser “Murmansk” has started. The vessel ended its days in Sørøya in the rocks outside Sørvær on the coast of Finnmark in December 1994.
The cruiser was being tugged southwards for scrapping when it tore away during a storm and has since been to a lot of nuisance to the local population.
The Norwegian company AF Gruppen Norge AS is chosen as contractor for the project, which is called ”Operation Murmansk”. The plan is to drain the sea bottom around the wreck by using jetties and then cut the vessel in pieces on the dry bottom. The operation should be completed in 2011.
The municipality of Hasvik, were the wreck lies, expects to make several million kroner by selling rocks for the jetties to the contractor, NRK reports.
The Norwegian government has allocated nearly 360 million NOK to the removal of the wreck.
Illustrations of the operation can be seen here and here
Watch video from the site here
