Officials begin inquiry into Viking Sky cruise ship mayday

0 Viking Sky ran into trouble in stormy seas at the weekend Norwegian officials have opened an investigation into why a cruise ship carrying more than 1,370 people set sail along the country’s often wild western coast despite storm warnings, forcing a major evacuation by helicopter.

One person is in critical but stable condition in an intensive care ward, hospital offi- cials said, adding that eight others were still hospitalised after the weekend ordeal.

The Viking Sky had left the northern city of Tromsø and was headed for Stavanger in southern Norway when it had engine problems and issued a mayday call on Saturday afternoon. The ship anchored in heavy seas to avoid being dashed on the rocks in an area known for shipwrecks. Norwegian authorities then launched a daring rescue operation despite the high winds, eventually winching 479 passengers off the ship by helicopter in an operation that went on for hours Saturday night and into Sunday morning. About 900 people were still on board when the ship limped into the port city of Molde on its own engines.

Viking Ocean Cruises said yesterday it had begun “an internal investigation… to establish a complete and thorough understanding of what happened,” and welcome the official investigations which they “will fully support.”

Dag S Liseth of Norway’s Accident Investigations Board declined to speculate why the Viking Sky captain had decided to sail to Stavanger in the first place despite the weather warning. He couldn’t immediately say how long the cruise ship would remain in Molde.