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Norway rescuers airlift passengers off cruise ship in storm
OSLO, March 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Rescuers were working into the night on
Saturday to airlift 1,300 passengers and crew off a cruise ship after it got
into difficulty in rough seas off the Norwegian coast.
The Viking Sky lost power and started drifting mid-afternoon two
kilometres (1.2 miles) off More og Romsdal, prompting the captain to send out
a distress call.
The crew managed to restart one of the engines and drop anchor but
authorities decided it was too risky for passengers to remain on board.
Five helicopters were scrambled along with coastguard and other rescue
vessels.
“I have never seen anything so frightening,” said one of the passengers
who was rescued, Janet Jacob.
“I started to pray. I prayed for the safety of everyone on board,” she
told the NRK television channel.
“The helicopter trip was terrifying. The winds were like a tornado,” she
added.
Pictures broadcast in media reports showed passengers on board as the boat
rocked up and down.
“We were sitting down for breakfast when things started to shake…. It
was just chaos,” said another passenger, American John Curry, as quoted in
Norwegian by media.
Tor Andre Franck, the head of the police operations, said: “The boat only
has one working engine and the winds are rather strong. Therefore we would
prefer to have the passengers on land rather than on board the ship.”
– Notorious seas –
The Viking Sky sent out a distress signal due to “engine problems in bad
weather”, southern Norway’s rescue centre said earlier on Twitter.
By 9:00 pm (2000 GMT) 136 people had been evacuated, with each helicopter
able to take 15-20 people per airlift.
“The operation is going on all night long. The people are safe on board,”
said Per Fjeld, a rescue centre official.
The ship was travelling south en route from Tromso to Stavanger when it
got into trouble in an area that has claimed many ships.
“It is dangerous to encounter engine problems in these waters, which hide
numerous reefs,” Franck said.
A reception centre has been set up in a gym on shore to accommodate the
evacuees, many of whom are from the US and Britain.
Another vessel had been despatched to try to tow the Viking Sky into port,
potentially removing the need for the airlift.
“The boat is stable. It has dropped anchor and one of its engines is
working,” said a rescue centre spokesman, Borghild Eldoen.
“For the moment everything appears to be going well,” added another
spokesman, Einar Knutsen.
The centre said eight people had suffered minor injuries.
The area where the ship is stranded, known as Hustadvika, is notoriously
difficult to navigate.
The shallow, ten nautical mile section of coastline is known for its many
small islands and reefs.
“Hustadvika is one of the most notorious maritime areas that we have,” Odd
Roar Lange, a journalist specialising in tourism, told NRK.
In their time, the Vikings hesitated to venture into the Hustadvika,
preferring instead to transport their boats by land from one fjord to
another.
Operated by the Norwegian firm Viking Ocean Cruisers, the Viking Sky is a
modern cruise ship launched in 2017 with a capacity of 930 passengers plus
crew.
In addition to US and British nationals, there were also passengers from
14 other countries on board, Fjeld said.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0932 hrs