“The tanks were provided with level alarms, however these had not been triggered at this time. Hustadvika is the part of the Norwegian coastline where the incident took place. “The level of lubricating oil in the tanks was within set limits, however relatively low, when the vessel started to cross Hustadvika,” the NMA said in a news release this week. (Odd Roar Lange/NTB Scanpix/REUTERS) Norway’s Maritime Authority (NMA) says low oil pressure caused the engine failure that stranded the Viking Sky in stormy waters this weekend off the coast of Norway. Rescue helicopters spent 19 hours rescuing passengers from the troubled vessel. When asked why the cruise ship ventured into an area known for its rough waters in the middle of a storm that had been forecast by meteorologists, Mr Knudsen, from Norway's rescue service, said it was the captain's decision to proceed with the cruise.The cruise ship Viking Sky drifts towards land after an engine failure along Norway’s western coast on March 23, 2019. "I'm very proud of our crew," Mr Hagen told VG. Shipping tycoon Mr Hagen is one of Norway's richest men and the founder of the Switzerland-based Viking Cruises, which that operates river and ocean cruises under two business units.
He told Norway's VG newspaper that the events surrounding the Viking Sky were "some of the worst I have been involved in, but now it looks like it's going well in the end and that we've been lucky". Viking Cruises chairman Torstein Hagen praised the rescue operation by Norwegian authorities and the actions of the vessel's crew. The passengers mostly were an English-speaking mix of American, British, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian citizens. It had been visiting the Norwegian towns and cities of Narvik, Alta, Tromso, Bodo before its scheduled arrival Tuesday in the British port of Tilbury on the River Thames. The Viking Sky was a relatively new ship, delivered in 2017 to operator Viking Ocean Cruises. It said it did not anticipate any further cancellations to the ship's schedule. The company said the next scheduled trip for the boat, a visit to Scandinavia and Germany that was to leave on Wednesday, had been cancelled. Shortly afterwards, the Viking Ocean Cruises company confirmed all the passengers and crew on its Viking Sky cruise ship were safe, and added passengers were due to fly home, departing from Molde as soon as possible. It finally arrived at the port late Sunday afternoon and its remaining passengers and crew were taken off. Three of the ship's four engines were working as of Sunday morning, the centre said, so a tug boat and two other vessels assisted the Viking Sky as it slowly headed to Molde under its own power.
"The conditions were good enough for the captain to have no more evacuations," Mr Knudsen said. ( AP: Odd Roar Lange)Įinar Knudsen from Norway's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said the airlift was halted when the Viking Sky's captain decided before noon on Sunday to try to bring the cruise ship to the nearby port of Molde on its own engines. Passengers were rescued from a helicopter and taken to Hustadvika, Norway.
0 kommentar(er)
