Why did liner sail into storm?

an inquiry has begun into why a cruise liner with 1,300 passengers and crew on board set sail despite storm warnings and ‘high-risk’ conditions.

almost 500 passengers on the Viking Sky had to be taken off by helicopter after it was hit by 26ft waves and 50mph gusts off the coast of norway.

Passengers suffered broken limbs and cuts after the 745ft ship ran into trouble on Saturday.

The liner, which had 200 Britons on board, sent out a mayday after losing engine power. It finally reached the port of Molde on Sunday evening.

Dag Sverre Liseth, of norway’s accident investigations board, said: ‘The high risk the ship, passengers and crew were exposed to made us decide to investigate.’

Yesterday, Torstein Hagen, chairman of the ship’s owner, Viking Cruises, said: ‘I would like to personally apologise for what our guests experienced.’