MS Rigel

The Rigel was a Norwegian vessel named after the brightest star in the Orion constellation, built in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1924. The vessel was sunk by Fleet Air Arm aircraft off Norway on 27 November 1944 during the Second World War.

The Rigel and Korsnes had been requisitioned by the German occupation authorities in Norway to transport Allied prisoners of war, German deserters and Norwegians arrested by the German police.

The two vessels, escorted by two German naval vessels, were bombed by Fairey Barracuda bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Implacable. The location of the attack was between the islands Rosøya and Tjøtta south of the port of Sandnessjøen in Nordland county.

After the bombing raid the German captain on board Rigel grounded her on the island Rosøya, which probably saved some 267 lives. The official number of casualties is 2,572, mostly Soviet, Polish and Serbian prisoners of war; seven Norwegians also perished. There has been speculations whether this number of people killed is too high or too low, estimates varying from 2,000 up to 4,500. Survivors, as recent as in a 2005 documentary, claimed the British aircraft killed several of the prisoners by firing on them in the lifeboats.

The wreck remained half-sunk until 1969, when it was demolished and the remains of the dead buried in the war cemetery on the island of Tjøtta. The British Government said at the time that they had mistakenly believed the vessels to be carrying German troops.

References

• Lawson, Siri Holm. "M/S Rigel". Warsailors.com. http://www.warsailors.com/homefleetsingles/rigel.html. Retrieved 2 January 2010.