On January 5, the 69 meter long fishing factory trawler North Ocean caught fire in the Norwegian Sea. The fire started in the vessel’s engine room disabling the trawler.  The North Ocean sent out a distress call asking for assistance.  The fishing vessel Christian í Grótinum responded along with vessel Melkart II which was able to take the North Ocean under tow.  The vessels proceeded towards the Faroe Islands, but the towline broke in the rough seas.

A few hours later, a Danish naval vessel and a Faroese vessel arrived and were able to re-establish a towline to the North Ocean.  A crew member, on which vessel was not disclosed, sustained an injury while setting the towline.  All three vessels proceeded to Tórshavn  with 18 crew members of the North Shore transferred over to the Faroese vessel.  The vessels  arrived safely in Tórshavn a few days later.  There the local fire brigade inspected the vessel and found the fire had been extinguished, but the entire engine room was badly damaged.