A majority of members of the Norwegian Parliament support the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the deadly fire on board the cruise-ferry Scandinavian Star when it sailed from Oslo to Fredrikshavn in April 1990.
The fire claimed the lives of 159 people on board the ship, 136 of them Norwegian. Even though the fire has been the subject of repeated probes over the years, questions have lingered over how the fire started and over criminal liability.
“There are too many major and difficult questions that haven’t been answered,” MP Martin Kolberg of the Labour Party, who heads the parliament’s disciplinary committee, told state broadcaster NRK. “Now the parliament will pull itself together and do something that should have been done long ago.”
A Danish truck driver who died in the fire was identified by police as the sole culprit on the belief he started the fire. Others believe the fire was part of an insurance swindle that had fatal consequences. Oslo Police and Norway’s chief prosecutor have also believed the case needs to reexamined.
newsinenglish.no staff
