Stranded Viking Sky cruise passengers are battered by falling debris in chaotic video
Since sending out a mayday signal on Saturday, the first passengers of the stricken Viking Sky have been air-lifted to safety, the Daily Mail reports.
The cruise ship became stranded off the coast of Norway on Saturday after the vessel's engines failed as a result of the stormy conditions, leaving the passengers floundering in the chaotic 47,800-ton ship.
Now, a new passenger video shows the stranded cruise-goers being thrown around, with unfixed furniture sliding across deck and sections of the roof raining down on the unsuspecting vacationers, as 26-foot-high waves batter the ship.
The heart-pounding video was shared to Twitter by passenger Alexus Sheppard, along with the caption: "Still waiting for evacuation. #VikingSky #Mayday"
The Independent reports that emergency services have now airlifted 479 of the 1373 people on board, hoisting passengers one-by-one onto helicopters as a part of the on-going rescue mission.
Sheppard has since tweeted out confirming that she has been one of the passengers to make it off the stricken vessel: "Thank you EVERYONE for your love and support over these difficult two days. We’re now safely docked in Molda, Norway and have happily been fed and watered. [It’s] times like these that make us ALL stronger as caring human beings. It does indeed take a village [sic]"
Some of the first passengers to hace been rescued have since spoken out about their ordeal, including Rodney Horgen, 62, and his wife, Judy Lemieux, 66, of Deer River, Minnesota.
"The swells were hitting us broadside, just leaning the ship back and forth, almost to the point we thought it was going to tip,” Horgen told the Star Tribune. "People were getting tipped over in their chairs."
Credit: Facebook / Rodney Horgen Recalling the moment the couple was rescued by the helicopter crew, Rodney said: "They looked like an angel coming to get ya."
This is the dramatic moment the first passengers were hoisted to safety:Another passenger, Carolyn Savikas of Pennsylvania, described her experience on the liner to that of the Titanic. Speaking to Norway's VG newspaper, Savikas recalls hearing a "terrible crash", before water came flooding in:
"We were in the restaurant when a really huge wave came and shattered a door and flooded the entire restaurant. All I saw were bones, arms, water, and tables. It was like the Titanic – just like the pictures you have seen from the Titanic."