A powerful wave likely led to the death of an American archaeologist after a replica Viking ship capsized off the coast of Norway, local police said on Thursday.
Police have not officially released the victim's name, but media reports in Norway and the Faeroe Islands have identified her as 29-year-old Karla Dana from Florida.
The incident, which police described as a "tragic accident," occurred after the wooden ship encountered unexpectedly severe weather conditions.
The vessel, named Naddodd, was a 33-foot double-masted replica built in the Faroe Islands.
The ship's international crew was taking part in a project known as the "Legendary Viking Voyage," which involved sailing across the North Atlantic from the Faroe Islands to Trondheim in Norway, according to the trip's organizers.
They had set sail from the Faroe Islands, located between Scotland and Iceland, on Saturday.
Disaster struck on Tuesday night as the vessel approached the Norwegian coastal town of Stad, which is located around 215 miles from Oslo.
The Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) told CNN that the boat sent out a distress signal at around 5:45 pm local time, and that a rescue team arrived around 50 minutes later.
But the crew onboard signaled that they were safe, prompting the team to turn back.
Then, at around 8:00 pm local time, the vessel issued another distress call. Local civilian boats arrived at the scene soon afterwards and reported that the boat had capsized and five people were found on an inflatable life raft, according to the JRCC.
The survivors were rescued by helicopter and airlifted to safety.
Emergecy workers continued to search through the night for the missing crew member, and found a body on Wednesday morning after weather conditions improved, according to the JRCC.
Norwegian police later confirmed that the surviving crew members included one Faroese and four Swiss nationals.
According to the survivors, the weather suddenly turned significantly worse than predicted, with waves reaching up to 16 feet high. The ship was unable to withstand the conditions and capsized.
Dana had expressed her excitement about the voyage on her LinkedIn profile, describing her anticipation of "fearlessly embarking on this Nordic voyage on a Viking ship replica across the North Sea, pushing through physical and mental limits to sail into history."
The incident is not being treated as a criminal matter and police emphasized that it was an accident caused by a powerful wave.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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