New storms moving in over Norway turned tragic for three members of a film crew on Sunday afternoon. They were out photographing spectacular waves crashing over the coast south of Egersund, when the rough waters suddenly swept them out to sea. Two remained missing on Monday.
Search and rescue efforts had to be suspended Sunday evening because of the stormy weather. They were due to resume Monday morning but there was little hope of finding the two missing men alive. A third colleague managed to come up and out of the cold, swirling waters.
Stars in mourning
They were members of a team working on a new film called Skumringslandet, which features a cast of well-known Scandinavian actors including Norway’s Sverre Anker Ousdal and Denmark’s Kim Bodnia. The filmmakers were inspired by the extreme weather that hit northwestern Norway over the weekend, followed by a new storm that rolled over southern and western Norway on Sunday. More stormy weather was in the forecast.
The film crew members were trying to capture dramatic weather scenes for the film off the coast at Stapnes, between Stavanger and Mandal on Norway’s southwest coast. Newspaper Aftenposten reported that the two men swept out to sea and missing were aged 25 and 27, from Oslo and Sokndal.
The entire cast and crew of the film were in mourning. “We had become like a family,” actor Jørgen Langhelle told Aftenposten. He was among those who had worked with the missing men during several film shoots this autumn.
More storms on the way
The extreme weather that hit the north had calmed down when the new storm rammed the south. It also cost the life of a man in Bergen, whose body was found under a fallen tree. In addition to turning fatal, the hurricane-strength winds forced cancellation of Color Line’s ferry crossings between Norway, Denmark and Sweden, stranding thousands of passengers.
Several train lines were also disrupted including Bergensbanen between Bergen and Oslo, because of a landslide at Myrdal. The bad weather also temporarily halted Sørlandsbanen between Oslo and Kristiansand, while fallen trees and landslides blocked portions of the train lines between Oslo and Gjøvik and Kongsvinger. After a day of sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures on Sunday, the strong winds and rain also hit the Oslo area in the evening.
Skies cleared on Monday morning, but state meteorologists warned of another low pressure system due to move in Monday night that was expected to bring more stormy weather and high sea levels in the Oslo Fjord.
Views and News from Norway/Nina Berglund
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