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https://fox17online.com/2019/03/23/helicopters-rescue-norway-cruise-ship-passengers-amid-storm/
Helicopters rescue Norway cruise ship passengers amid storm
About 1,300 passengers and crew are being evacuated Saturday from a cruise ship off Norway, Norwegian emergency services said. FULL Credit: Odd Roar Lange/NTB Scanpix/AP
HELSINKI (AP) — Norwegian rescue authorities say a freighter has experienced an engine seizure in the same stormy Hustadsvika Bay region off western Norway where hundreds of people are being winched off by helicopter from the ailing Viking Sky cruise ship.
Video from on-board the Viking Sky showed furniture sliding around.
Authorities say they have had to divert two of the five helicopters rescuing 1,300 passengers and crew from the cruise ship to help the Hagland Captain cargo vessel’s crew of nine in the storm.
Both boats are trying to avoid being dashed on the rocky coast. The cruise ship is moored between the western Norwegian cities of Alesund and Trondheim. People are being winched off one by one, with one passenger saying she was terrified as she was buffeted by high winds.
Rescue workers say it will take hours to evacuate all those on the cruise ship.
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HELSINKI (AP) — Rescue workers off Norway’s western coast rushed to evacuate 1,300 passengers and crew from a disabled cruise ship by helicopter on Saturday, winching them one-by-one to safety as heaving waves tossed the ship from side to side and high winds battered the operation.
The Viking Sky issued a mayday call as bad weather hit and engine problems caused it to start drifting toward the rocky shore, the Norwegian newspaper VG reported. Police in the western county of Moere og Romsdal said the crew, fearing the ship would run aground, managed to anchor in Hustadvika Bay, between the Norwegian cities of Alesund and Trondheim, so the evacuations could take place.
Rescue teams with helicopters and boats were sent to evacuate the cruise ship under extremely difficult circumstances, including gusts up to 38 knots (43 mph) and waves over 8 meters (26 feet). The area is known for its rough, frigid waters.
The majority of the cruise ship passengers were reportedly British and American tourists. About 180 have been evacuated, according to rescue officials.
Video and photos from people on the ship showed it heaving, with chairs and other furniture dangerously rolling from side to side. Passengers were suited up in orange life vests but the waves broke some ship windows and cold water flowed over the feet of some passengers.
Norwegian public broadcaster NRK said the Viking Sky’s evacuation was a slow and dangerous process, as passengers needed to be hoisted one-by-one from the cruise ship to the five available helicopters.
“I was afraid. I’ve never experienced anything so scary,” Janet Jacob, among the first group of passengers evacuated to the nearby town of Molde, told NRK.
She said her helicopter ride to safety came amid strong winds “like a tornado,” prompting her to pray “for the safety of all aboard.”
American passenger John Curry told NRK that he was having lunch as the cruise ship started to shake.
“It was just chaos. The helicopter ride from the ship to shore I would rather not think about. It wasn’t nice,” Curry told the broadcaster.
NRK said one 90-year-old-man and his 70-year-old spouse on the ship were severely injured but did not say how that happened.
Later, reports emerged that a cargo ship with nine crew members was in trouble nearby, and the local Norwegian rescue service diverted two of the five helicopters working on the cruise ship to that rescue.
Authorities told NRK that a strong storm with high waves was preventing rescue workers from using life boats or tug boats to take passengers ashore.
“It’s a demanding exercise, because they (passengers) have to hang in the air under a helicopter and there’s a very, very strong wind,” witness Odd Roar Lange told NRK at the site.
Rescuers were prioritizing the nine crew members aboard the Hagland Captain cargo ship, said Per Fjeld of the Joint Rescue Center Southern Norway. He later said all nine crewmembers had been rescued.
Norwegian authorities said late Saturday that the evacuation of the Viking Sky would proceed all through the night into Sunday.
Officials said late Saturday night that three of the ship’s four engines had been restarted and it was moving southwest – but not toward shore.
The Viking Sky was on a 12-day trip that began March 14 in the western Norwegian city of Bergen, according to the cruisemapper.com website.
The ship was visiting the Norwegian towns and cities of Narvik, Alta, Tromso, Bodo and Stavanger before its scheduled arrival Tuesday in the British port of Tilbury on the River Thames.
The Viking Sky, a vessel with gross tonnage of 47,800, was delivered in 2017 to operator Viking Ocean Cruises.
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Sheila Norman-Culp contributed from London.
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9:20 p.m.
A passenger who was winched off the Viking Sky cruise ship by helicopter as a massive storm hit western Norway says the rescue was terrifying.
Janet Jacob, among the first group of passengers evacuated by helicopter to a hotel in the nearby town of Molde, told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK late Saturday that “I was afraid. I’ve never experienced anything so scary.”
She said her rescue came amid strong winds “like a tornado” and she said she started to pray “for the safety of all aboard.”
The Viking Sky had engine problems and sent a mayday call off Norway’s western coast on Saturday as it desperately tried to avoid being grounded on the rocky coast. Then the helicopter rescues began.
Norwegian media says British and American tourists make up the majority of the passengers. Including crew, 1,300 people were on the ship.
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6 p.m.
Norwegian officials say rescue workers have managed to evacuate about 100 people so far from a cruise ship that ran into engine problems in heavy winds and seas and sent a mayday call off Norway’s western coast.
Authorities kicked off an evacuation on Saturday afternoon of the estimated 1,300 passengers and crew from the Viking Sky cruise ship. Rescue teams with helicopters and boats have been sent to help, and the evacuation process expected to take several hours.
Norwegian newspaper VG said the Viking Sky into propulsion problems as strong winds and heavy seas hit Norway’s coastal regions and had to moor in Hustadvika Bay, between the western Norwegian cities of Alesund and Trondheim.
The Viking Sky was delivered in 2017 to operator Viking Ocean Cruises.
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5:15 p.m.
Police say a cruise ship with engine problems has sent a mayday call off Norway’s western coast and is making plans to evacuate its 1,300 passengers and crew.
Norwegian newspaper VG said the Viking Sky cruise ship ran into propulsion problems as strong winds and heavy seas hit Norway’s coastal regions Saturday.
Police in the western county of Moere og Romsdal said Saturday the ship has managed to moor in Hustadvika Bay, between the western Norwegian cities of Alesund and Trondheim.
Rescue teams with helicopters and boats have been sent to help and evacuate the vessel, a process expected to take several hours.
The Viking Sky was delivered in 2017 to operator Viking Ocean Cruises.
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