Spectacular rescue of 1,300 people aboard a cruise ship in Norway

A breakdown of the engines of a cruise in Norwegian waters, with nearly 1,400 people on board, forced a complex evacuation operation about five kilometers from the coast of Hustadvika, to the east. from the Nordic country.

On Sunday morning, some 450 pbadengers were evacuated by helicopter, according to the Norwegian public television, and 17 people hospitalized, according to the authorities of the neighboring city of Fræna. The boat has already begun to be towed by two other boats up to the port of Molde. Some videos posted on social networks show a devastating situation on the ship, furniture moving from one side to another and pieces of falling roof.

The cruise, which traveled with 915 pbadengers and 458 crew members, heads west at speeds between two and three knots after successfully starting three of its four engines. "The tugs are en route, the evacuation with the help of helicopters will continue parallel for the moment," said the rescue services.

"The cruise ship Viking Sky sent a distress signal, because of propulsion problems due to bad weather, it will land, we sent several helicopters and boats in the area," said the county rescue service in a first statement. from Møre and Romsdal.

The first alarms were triggered in the afternoon of yesterday and shortly thereafter, a reception center located in a sports pavilion near the coast started to be activated, in waiting to be evacuated to the pbadage.

While the complex evacuation operations continued, there was a parallel attempt to reactivate one of the cruise ship engines in an attempt to restart the Viking Sky.

Norwegian rescue services reported in the following hours on their Twitter account that five helicopters were participating in the evacuation operation, as well as an indefinite number of vessels.

The rescue operation should be long, each helicopter can carry between 10 and 15 pbadengers each way. The crew and the cruise are in a stable situation, according to the local press, citing police sources, while social networks began to broadcast images of the cruise, subject to strong waves and difficult weather conditions.

The waters of the Hustadvika coast are considered a complex area for navigation, as winds and sea currents are common. The Viking Sky began its journey on March 14 in Bergen, in western Norway. The ship was to cross the towns of Narvik, Alta, Tromso, Bodo, Stavanger and Tilbury, where he planned to arrive next Tuesday. (The country)