The cruise ship Viking Sky suffered an engine failure in windy conditions off the Norwegian west coast on Saturday. The ship had 1,300 passengers on board. With helicopters only able to take 15 passengers at a time, the rescue is expected to take hours, and on Sunday, 463 people had been brought safely to land.
The vessel sent out a mayday message and asked for assistance around 1pm GMT on Saturday.
The police have now said the first 463 passengers have been successfully evacuated, where 16 have been sent to the hospital, three of them with serious injuries.
“If we need to evacuate everyone, it will take a long time,” rescue service spokesman Einar Knudsen told Reuters.
The evacuation process started at approximately 3pm on Saturday.
However, it looks like not everyone will be evacuated as the boat will be towed to the city of Molde, on Norway's west coast, on Sunday morning, authorities said.
The vessel is expected to reach Molde at approximately 1pm GMT.
Norwegian Odd Roar Lange was in the area on Saturday and could see the ship from land.
Mr Lange said: “The ship may be able to get a little further out from land and go northwest in a slow speed.”
One passenger said: "We were having lunch when it began to shake. Window panes were broken and water came in. It was just chaos.
“The trip on the helicopter, I would rather forget. It was not fun.”
The Viking Sky, built in 2017, belongs to Viking Ocean Cruises, part of the Viking Cruises group founded by Norwegian billionaire Torstein Hagen.
According to the company’s website, its passenger capacity is 930.
Multiple people have gathered to follow the dramatic rescue at Hustadvika.
The Norwegian People’s Aid have also confirmed they have been called out to assist the evacuation.
Operational manager Rune Toven told Norwegian paper VG on Saturday: “We are on our way with a crew of 15 people, ready to assist with the evacuations.”
Tor Andre Franck at the Møre og Romsdal police district said the ship "suffered engine failure" and are having "problems with the propulsion".
He said: “The wind is blowing at 38 knots (43.7mph) in the area. We have established facilities on land for those being evacuated.”
Mr Franck said the ship is "stuck" and added the weather in the area is very bad.
Gunnar Holten, a local man in Hustadvika, the area near where the ship is adrift, says the stormy conditions are very bad.
According to Mr Holton, flying debris can be seen in the air and a roof from a barn nearby has been ripped off by the strong winds.
This story is constantly being updated with new information as it comes through.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1104344/norway-cruise-ship-Viking-Sky-evacuation
2019-03-24 09:27:00Z
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