Torstein Hagen, the billionaire owner of the cruise ship involved in a dramatic rescue operation off Norway this weekend, has flown into Molde to talk with passengers.
Rescue workers have been winching hundreds of people from the 48,000-gt Viking Sky, with around 20 people taken to hospital, Reuters reported.
About 900 passengers and crew were still on board when it arrived at the port of Molde on Norway’s west coast on Sunday afternoon, The Guardian report.
Five helicopters had earlier taken 479 people to safety as huge waves tossed the ship around.
Footage from passengers showed chairs, large plants and other furniture rolling around and hitting walls.
Parts of the ceiling collapsed as the vessel listed heavily.
As TradeWinds reported yesterday the ship ran into difficulties after losing power off the notorious Hustadvika coast.
The vessel came within just 100 meters of grounding but has now restarted its engines and is moving under its own power.
Hagen, one of Norway’s richest men, arrived in Molde by private jet and after meetings with some involved in the incident told the media: “They’ve had a bit of a shocking experience.
“Most of our passengers are senior citizens ... imagine what it’s like to hang there on that wire. It must be a terrible experience but they seem to have handled it very well,” said 76-year-old Hagen.
He said it was too early to speculate about the cause of the engine trouble and described the incident as one of his worst experiences.
Close to 500 of the 1,373 onboard Viking Sky have now been removed from the ship, which is expected to reach Molde later today, Reuters reports.
Plenty of time for finger-pointing
“We all want to know how this could have happened,” Hagen, chairman of Viking Ocean Cruises, said.
“I’m sure there will be plenty of time to point fingers at what could and should have been done, but that’s for later.
“Something like this shouldn’t happen, but it has.”
The Norwegian-flag vessel was built in Fincantieri’s Ancona yard in 2017 and was sailing from Tromso south to Stavanger when the incident occurred.
Most of the passengers came from the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Torstein Hagen is one of Norway’s wealthiest with an estimated fortune of NOK 52bn ($6.5bn).
The cruiseship is managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management and top officers are from the Nordic countries.
Due to the poor weather forecast for Hustadvika, Hurtigruten dropped sailing from Bergen northwards and from Trondheim southwards yesterday. It has now resumed some activity.
