Eva Frisnes(MOLDE, Norway) — Rescue helicopters were battling severe winds on Saturday to airlift more than 1,300 people off a Norwegian cruise ship that issued a distressed call after an engine failure.
Of the 1,300 stranded, 900 were passengers on the Viking Cruises’ ship called The Viking Sky, Norway’s Rescue Coordination Centre told ABC News. The ship can house 930 guests and was built in 2017, according to the company’s website.
The initial mayday was received by the agency at 2 p.m. local time, the agency spokesperson said. Currently, the cruise ship is close to shore and has one engine working and one anchor holding. Rescuers hope to get two other engines working.
Four helicopters were involved in the operations, and at least 87 people have been hoisted off, including eight with injuries, the agency said.
Danny and Judith Bates were among the rescued.
Still waiting for evacuation. #VikingSky #Mayday pic.twitter.com/6EvcAjf5D2
— Alexus Sheppard ?️? (@alexus309) March 23, 2019
“Very frightening. We went up on a helicopter with a sling, the two of us together and it was quite scary,” Danny Bates told Eurovision.
His companion, Judith Bates said, “I felt surely, they have everything under control, it’s all going to be OK. So we just take this as an unexpected adventure.”
A tugboat is en route to further secure The Viking Sky, but the weather conditions remained harsh. The rescue operation was expected to continue through the night.
A Viking representative told ABC News that the company ‘could not give any information at the moment.’
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