WORLD NEWS MARCH 23, 2019 / 10:31 AM / UPDATED 24 MINUTES AGO

Passengers airlifted from cruise ship stranded off Norway

Terje Solsvik, Gwladys Fouche
2 MIN READ

OSLO (Reuters) - Rescue helicopters were evacuating people from a cruise ship which suffered engine failure on Saturday in stormy weather off the west coast of Norway, police and rescue workers said.

The maritime rescue service said the Viking Sky, with about 1,300 passengers and crew on board, had sent out a mayday signal as it had been drifting towards land.

The crew were later able to restart one engine and the ship was at anchor about 2 km from land.

Passengers were hoisted one-by-one from the deck of the vessel and airlifted to a village just north of the town of Molde on Norway’s west coast. About 100 people had been evacuated by 1530 GMT, police said.

“If we need to evacuate everyone, it will take a long time,” rescue service spokesman Einar Knudsen told Reuters.

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The Latest: 2nd ship needs rescue off Norway's western coast

an hour ago

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9:40 p.m.

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.

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.

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