Oslo - Ten people died and another 12 were feared drowned after a Norwegian ferry with 88 people aboard sank in stormy weather in the North Sea yesterday, Norway's rescue service said.
Hopes of finding the missing were fading about four hours after the Sleipner catamaran ferry sank in the dark after hitting rocks near Haugesund, west Norway.
"Ten are dead. Another 12 are still missing," a spokeswoman, Ms Borghild Eldoeen said. "We're still searching for survivors." Earlier, the rescue service had said they believed that everyone picked up from liferafts and from the water had survived the accident.
A helicopter and four vessels, equipped with searchlights, were scouring the waters around the sunken ferry. The temperature of the water was between five and eight degrees Celsius. The ferry had been carrying 80 passengers and eight crew.