Passengers aboard a cruise sailing the North Sea had to brace themselves when gale-force winds and 70-foot waves hit the ship.
Footage from the scary moment surfaced online and showed the passengers with life vests hanging on to tables as the ship called the MS Maud moved significantly due to the winds and waves caused by Storm Pia last week.
"Get down on the floor, it's safer," said someone in the video.
Danish rescue ships arrived 40 minutes later as passengers were ordered to stay in place. The ship had over 260 guests and 131 crew members onboard and departed from Tilbury Docks in the United Kingdom on Dec. 9 and lost power when it ran into the storm on Dec. 21.
Brian Launder, one of the passengers on the boat, told an outlet named SWNS that he saw waves hit his cabin windows on the fifth deck and water entering the ship through the corridors.
"At the one stage they were getting the lifeboats ready," he told SWNS on Saturday. "The cruise had to be cut short as they had to cut through the storm. We spent lots of hours not moving with no power. We were talking to the officers and they estimated the waves were 15 to 20 meters."
He added, "We were worried when the water came through the door. My wife was so calm, she was helping this lady. She got her sorted out."
Launder also said one person was hurt while the ship went through the storm, saying, "She had a baby in her arms, but she went flying," and the "captain had to move the bridge to the passenger lounge due to three windows blown out by a wave."
The ship eventually made it to Bremerhaven, Germany, and the New York Post reported that the cruise line would pay for the passengers' flights to the ship's original destination, London.
