Cruise ship arrives safely in port after evacuations

A cruise ship which got into difficulties off the coast of Norway amid stormy seas safely reached port yesterday after around half of its passengers were evacuated.

Some 200 Britons were on board the Viking Sky ship which sent a mayday call after losing engine power, prompting the start of an operation to airlift 1,300 passengers and crew from the vessel in high winds.

Police in Moere og Romsdal said the ship’s crew had managed to anchor in Hustadvika Bay on Saturday, amid fears the vessel would run aground.

Some 479 passengers were airlifted from the vessel.

There were still 436 guests and 458 crew members on board following the end of the evacuation, the operator said.

A spokeswoman for Viking Cruises said the ship had docked in the port in the city of Molde, on Norway’s west coast, at 4:30pm local time yesterday, having travelled there under its own power.

All passengers and crew are safe, she added, and passengers were due to begin flying home last night.

Viking Cruises said 20 people suffered injuries and were receiving treatment in Norway, with some already discharged.

A statement from the operator thanked the local emergency services “for their support and skill displayed in managing the situation in very challenging weather conditions”.

It added: “We would also like to thank the local residents who throughout the whole process have been extremely supportive and hospitable.”

The operator’s chairman, Torstein Hagen, told Norway’s VG newspaper the events were “some of the worst I have been involved in, but now it looks like it’s going well in the end and that we’ve been lucky”.

The shipping tycoon, who is one of Norway’s richest men, added: “I am very proud of our crew.”

Footage online appeared to show the ship rocking dramatically, with debris falling from the ceiling and furniture including chairs sliding across the floor as passengers sat waiting to be rescued.

Derek and Esther Browne, from Hampshire, said the “whole boat was swaying, it was very rough” before they were airlifted to safety.

Mr Browne said: “We had a few people on stretchers, several with cuts, two with broken limbs, but fortunately we were alright. We were airlifted on to the helicopter which 0 Clockwise from above: passengers await rescue; helicopters airlift people to safety; emergency services greet the rescue aircraft

was quite a frightening experience.”

He added: “I’d never been in a helicopter before, there were a lot of high winds, hovering overhead and the winchman came down and we were then collected up and so I shut my eyes as we arrived into the helicopter and there were 15 of us for about a 20-minute ride.”

The majority of the cruise ship passengers were British and American tourists.