Cruise ship in trouble off Norway

[GHA]

This looks really scary! Fingers and toes crossed, those poor passengers must be petrified.

A Viking Ocean Cruises cruise ship with about 1,300 people on board is in distress in heavy weather just off the coast of western Norway. Search and rescue teams have begun evacuating passengers by helicopter. As of now the ship is holding anchor with one engine running approximately 2 km from shore.

https://gcaptain.com/viking-sky-cru...0Ej6-7vFAmMi6rmCqoRePBCB-2qLsaOnuW2wplPfrerKU

 

[johnalison]

Yes. It looks very unpleasant and we will have to hope that it turns out all right for them.

 

[bedouin]

How long will it take to get 1500 people off by helicopter?

 

[[2068]]

AIS shows it moving slowly with a tug shadowing it.

https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9650420

 

[GHA]

Looks hopeful at the moment, brown trousers or what this afternoon though!

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:4232279/zoom:5

 

[Beelzebub]

Two of the rescue helicopters have been diverted to help a cargo ship in trouble. It's going to be a long night up there.

https://twitter.com/potifar66/status/1109522516253523969

 

[Giblets]

The wife’s sister and brother with their spouses are on board the Viking Sky.

 

[RichardS]

The wife’s sister and brother with their spouses are on board the Viking Sky.

We all sincerely hope that they will be OK.

Richard

 

[Giblets]

Thanks Richard. We are receiving sporadic updates from them. So far all as well as can be expected.

 

[Beelzebub]

Film from on board the ship a couple of hours ago:-

https://twitter.com/hashtag/VikingSky?src=hash

 

[Giblets]

Latest update: All four of them are now on dry land after having been plucked from the disabled ship in the dark in atrocious conditions by one of the rescue helios.

 

[Beelzebub]

Latest update: All four of them are now on dry land after having been plucked from the disabled ship in the dark in atrocious conditions by one of the rescue helios.

Glad to hear that they are all safe. It isn't pleasant on the ship:-

https://twitter.com/sotiridi/status/1109514491975352323

 

[Beelzebub]

Apparently crew from the Haglan Captain which was offering assistance to the Viking Sky are abandoning ship; not good

https://twitter.com/Air_4U/status/1109568731095666689

 

[Giblets]

Apparently crew from the Haglan Captain which was offering assistance to the Viking Sky are abandoning ship; not good

https://twitter.com/Air_4U/status/1109568731095666689

Not strictly correct. The Haglan Captain has lost some deck cargo but is now anchored and the crew are still on board after telling the authorities to use the choppers to get the folk off the cruise ship.

 

[Beelzebub]

Not strictly correct. The Haglan Captain has lost some deck cargo but is now anchored and the crew are still on board after telling the authorities to use the choppers to get the folk off the cruise ship.

Of course, this is social media but this is only 30 minutes old:-

https://twitter.com/geirnoklebye/status/1109564966682722304

Who knows? My best wishes are with all involved.

 

[Giblets]

Beelzebub, the following is copied from the link you posted in #12 above about 2/3rd of the way down the page:

Just before 9pm the nine people aboard a cargo ship will not evacuate said the captain. it will be appropriate to send several rescue helicopters to the #VikingSky Cruise ship first. The ship is on anchor near the cruise ship had timber. some fell into the sea

 

[GHA]

From twitter, 2 tugs now towing the viking sky to Molde which looks about 40Nm away, probably a lot longer through the islands. Cargo ship crew abandoned ship and were rescued last night. What a night for everyone not over yet but looks positive. Looks like they were a hairs breadth from hitting the rocks at one point.

The twitter feed is amazing, already video posted of the tow.
https://twitter.com/VictorM25245226/status/1109732145067630592

 

[Stemar]

Glad nearly everyone seems to be Ok & hope the injured make a full recovery.

Two genuine questions:

1. The storm seems to have been well forecast, so what was a cruise ship doing out there in a notoriously nasty bit of water? Even without engine problems, 10 meter waves must be likely to cause some injuries amongst the passengers, especially as there are likely to have been a goodly number of elderly folk on board.

2. Two ships in bad conditions suffer engine failure: Coincidence, a problem with engine design or something else?

 

[JumbleDuck]

I'm interested to know why they were airlifting passengers off a ship which had three out of four engines running and was heading off with a tug standing by. Helicopters are expensive so I presume it wasn't for fun.

 

[GHA]

Someone even managed to update the ais destination