  Detailed optical and near-IR observations of SN 1999E have confirmed early
suggestions that this supernova was indeed a twin of the peculiar type II SN
1997cy: it was exceptionally luminous and had evolved slowly, and the line
profiles had narrow peaks and broad wings, indicating interaction with the
circumstellar material. Nevertheless, the most intriguing characteristic was
that, in analogy to SN 1997cy, it exploded at a position consistent in time and
location with a BATSE event (GRB980910). The "a posteriori" probability that
the only two SNe with such an optical appearance are associated with two
different BATSE GRB is only 0.2%. This raises the possibility that some GRB are
associated with H--rich SNe.
