In an incident, which could have become a tragedy, a helicopter airlifted 1300 from a cruise ship. The ship suffered from Engine failure in the notorious waters of Hustadvika near the Norwegian coast.
The ship, The Viking Sky, was travelling south en route from Tromso to Stavanger when it got into trouble in an area that has claimed many ships.
The Viking Sky lost power and started drifting mid-afternoon two kilometres (1.2 miles) off More og Romsdal, prompting the captain to send out a distress call. The Viking Sky sent out a distress signal due to “engine problems in bad weather”, southern Norway’s rescue centre said earlier on Twitter. Due o this, five helicopters were scrambled along with coastguard and other rescue vessels.
Though, the crew managed to restart one of the engines and drop anchor but authorities decided it was too risky for passengers to remain on board.
Tor Andre Franck, the head of the police operations, said: “The boat only has one working engine and the winds are rather strong. Therefore we would prefer to have the passengers on land rather than on board the ship.”
The area where the ship is stranded, known as Hustadvika, is notoriously difficult to navigate. The shallow, ten nautical mile section of coastline is known for its many small islands and reefs.
