Rescue helicopters have been evacuating people from a Viking Ocean Cruises ship that suffered engine failure on Saturday, March 23, in windy conditions off Norway's west coast.
According to the maritime rescue service, Viking Sky, with around 1,300 passengers and crew onboard, had sent out a mayday signal as she had been drifting towards land.
The crew later managed to restart one engine and the vessel was at anchor about 2 kilometers from land.
Passengers had to be hoisted one by one from the ship's deck and airlifted to a village north of the town of Molde. The police said about 100 people had been airlifted by 1530 GMT.
The stretch of water popular as Hustadvika is known for fierce weather along with shallow waters dotted with reefs. The government of Norway is evaluating whether to build a huge ocean tunnel through the nearby mountain in order to improve safety.
Several ships and 4 helicopters took part in the rescue operation and facilities to receive cruise passengers have been set up on land.
The wind was blowing at ~70 kph speed. All search and rescue teams in the region were mobilized, including sixty volunteers from the Norwegian Red Cross.
At the time of the accident, Viking Sky was on 12-days, one-way cruise from Bergen to London-Greenwich, themed as "Northern Lights".
For other Viking Sky accidents and incidents see at the ship's CruiseMinus page.