Update – The deceased has now been named as Margareth Stolvik from Melbu. People in the know say it had nothing to do with the Facebook trend – Stolvik was an active winter swimmer
Read for instance Vesterålen Online (in Norwegian)
Friday evening May 2, a local woman in her 50ies was found dead in the sea near a floating dock in Melbu, Norway. She was wearing a bathing suit, and a towel was found nearby.
As of Saturday morning, police hadn’t been able to inform all of her relatives, and her name will therefore not be released today.
Police are generally sparse with details while investigating the matter, but say that nothing suggests any criminal activity. Indications are that the woman was alone.
Asked if this is connected to the Facebook craze where people challenge each other to plunge into the (cold) sea, police say they cannot exclude that possibility.
‘We have had our thoughts, and obviously can not rule that out. It is somewhat of an epidemic up here,” says operations manage Kåre Munkvold. (see tv2.no)
In this article on Nordlys, doctor Ole Magnus Filseth warns people against plunging into the Norwegian sea at this time of the year, as you can drown almost instantly.
