On Saturday, a luxury outing turned into a terrifying ordeal after passengers had to be rescued by helicopter from a malfunctioning cruise ship.
According to reports, the Viking Sky cruise ship lost power to its engines due to inclement weather. The vessel, as well as its more than 1,300 passengers and crew members, were stranded off Norway's Western Hustadvika coast. Although the crew was reportedly able to revive one of the ship's four motors, the captain decided to send a mayday alert to authorities and anchor the ship about 1.2 miles from the shore.
Due to the high waves and strong wind, search and rescue teams decided that the best way to evacuate the passengers is to use a helicopter to grab them one-by-one from the ship. Once close to 15-20 people were aboard the aircraft, it would fly them to safety.
As of 8 PM local time, 139 people had been taken from the stranded ship to shore.
The Viking Sky was not the only ship to fall victim to the rocky conditions. While retrieving passengers from the cruise ship, a nearby freighter's engines also failed. In turn, authorities sent another helicopter to save the crew of the distressed cargo ship.
