Today’s cruise line company that had a frightening voyage is… *spins wheel* …Viking Ocean Cruises. Scary videos from the Viking Sky show the cruise ship being battered by turbulent waters and powerful gusts of wind turning the happy vacation into a cruise nightmare.
The Viking Sky suffered engine malfunctions that caused the $400 million cruise ship to stall in the Norwegian Sea off the western coast of Norway, near the coastline of Hustadvika. A storm in the area slammed the ship with wind gusts of up to 43 mph and waves over 26 feet high on Saturday. Footage shows the Viking Sky being smashed by the rough waters as furniture slid across rooms, ceiling tiles fell, and the ship swayed heavy from side to side.
https://twitter.com/alexus309/status/1109530668290183172
https://twitter.com/alexus309/status/1109537029912711168
The emergency situation during the Norwegian cruise forced the ship to send a mayday call. The ship’s crew were able to get one of the engines to work, but the seas were too rough to sail in and they dropped their anchor. The captain knew the cruise ship was in trouble and decided to evacuate 1,300 passengers and crew, but the waves were too dangerous to use the lifeboats.
Uma moça do staff do #VikingSky fez um video na hora que a onda bate no navio pic.twitter.com/D0jmWBVko2
— Rosana Hermann (@rosana) March 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/oxman78/status/1109511743364128768
The passengers and crew had to be evacuated by helicopters. Five helicopters were sent to the cruise ship to airlift stranded passengers. However, two of the helicopters had to attend to another helpless ship that was in trouble from the storm, this one was a cargo ship.
Helicopters continuing to evacuate passengers from the #VikingSky, which is suffering engine issues off the Norwegian coast. Rough seas and high winds making evacuation difficult.
Tracking in the area: https://t.co/9LOL4JaCjD
Track the helicopters: https://t.co/RPQW6FFLHv pic.twitter.com/ngSRxHXa2i
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 23, 2019
דיווח ראשוני על ספינת תיירים נורבגית ועליה 1300 איש אשר החלה לשדר אותו מצוקה. מסוקים הוזנקו #VikingSky pic.twitter.com/IhRnQjUkKe
— GIL (@avigil77) March 23, 2019
Cruise line passengers shared videos and photos of the emergency evacuation.
https://twitter.com/RyanDFlynn11/status/1109572773255569408
https://twitter.com/oxman78/status/1109508294958350336
Norway’s Red Cross has launched a “massive” operation with over 100 volunteers to assist the evacuees. The evacuees will be transferred to hotels in nearby towns. Some passengers have been taken to hospital but there have been no serious injuries reported yet according to local police.
Helicopters and multiple boats are rescuing more than 1,000 people from a cruise ship adrift in bad weather off Norway.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre of Southern Norway’s Borghild Eldoen says she expects the rescues to last “through the whole night” https://t.co/tcrLcLGHqn pic.twitter.com/Zgc15RfVme— CNN News Central (@NewsCentralCNN) March 23, 2019
The Viking Sky was in the middle of their 12-day voyage that began in the Norwegian city of Bergen on March 14th. The cruise itinerary included several stops at ports in Norway and the final destination was scheduled to be Tilbury, United Kingdom. The Viking Sky began service in 2017, weighs 47,800 gross tons, has nine decks, and is 745-feet-long.
[Mediaite]