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Coast guard prepared to assist

KV Senja (mil.no)

Norwegian Coast Guard is redispositioning its vessels to cover a larger area along the coast of Norway. The reason is the no-fly ban imposed on rescue helicopters caused by the volcano ash from Iceland.

Location

The Norwegian Rescue Coordination Center’s helicopters are temporarily grounded while the ash clouds from Iceland are halting all air traffic over Norway.

Read also: Air traffic grounded in the Barents Region

To compensate for the lost emergency preparedness, Norwegian coast guard has decided to spread its vessels to cover a larger area of the coast, newspaper Finnmark Dagblad writes.

- Some of our coast guard vessles have helicopters on board, says spokeswoman at the Joint Headquarters Hanne Olafsen. - Our Lynx and Sea King helicopters are not subject to civilian aviation regulations and can be used in case of emergency as long as flight safety is ensured, Olafsen told the newspaper.