Viking Sky Ship Norway.Hundreds evacuated from cruise ship in Norway

A stricken luxury cruise liner that had hundreds of its passengers airlifted to safety over the weekend has been towed to port in Norway as it emerged it narrowly escaped running aground and a major disaster.

About 900 passengers and crew were still onboard the Viking Sky when it arrived at the port of Molde on Norway’s west coast on Sunday afternoon. Five helicopters had earlier winched 479 people to safety as huge waves tossed the ship around.

Twenty people were treated for injuries including broken bones, cuts and bruises, rescuers said.

Social media footage showed chairs, large pot plants and other furniture on the ship rolling across the floor and crashing into walls. Parts of the ceiling were falling down on to passengers as the ship swayed heavily. Passengers were wearing orange life vests as waves broke down doors and windows and cold water poured over their feet.

The cruise liner was only 100 metres away from striking rocks in shallow waters when it finally managed to turn.

“It was very nearly a disaster. The ship drifted to within 100 metres of running aground before they were able to restart one of the engines,” police chief Hans Vik, who heads the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre for southern Norway, told TV2. “If they had run aground we would have faced a major disaster.”

Among the passengers from Britain, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia were Derek and Esther Browne. The couple, from Hampshire, said the “whole boat was swaying, it was very rough” before they were airlifted to safety.

Derek Browne told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We had a few people on stretchers, several with cuts, two with broken limbs, but fortunately we were all right. We were airlifted on to the helicopter, which was quite a frightening experience.”

The ship had started struggling with engine problems in bad weather off Norway’s western coast on Saturday afternoon, in an area known for its rough, unpredictable waters. It reportedly issued a mayday call when it started drifting towards the rocky shore. Police said the crew managed to anchor off the coast near the town of Ålesund.