The Norwegian cruise ship “Maud” which got into trouble in the North Sea on Thursday during the storm Pia, is now on its way to England with 266 passengers and 131 crew members, in accordance with Danish news and TV station TV 2.
The cruise ship sails 3-4 knots and is closely followed by two vessels from towage and rescue service company Esvagt.
On Thursday TV 2 news stated that the ship got into trouble in the North Sea off Esbjerg, and the Danish Defense Operations Center kept a close eye on its situation as Stig Flemming Olsen said, who is the officer on duty at the Danish Defense Operations Center to the news station.
The work was left to Esvagt, which was tasked with getting a tugboat out to the ship to assist it further. “It is more or less out of our hands now, but we are of course keeping an eye on the situation,” said Stig Flemming Olsen to TV 2, who also explained that it is not a completely harmless manoeuvre for Esvagt, as there were seven-eight-meter-high waves in the water on Thursday evening.
Stig Flemming Olsen has confirmed to TV 2 that the Norwegian cruise ship ran into problems after the windows on the ship’s bridge, from where the ship is controlled, were blown to pieces.
This meant that water entered the bridge, which led to a power cut and that the engines went out, so there was no propulsion in the ship. “When there is no propulsion, this means that the ship lies sideways in relation to the waves, and then the ship lies and ‘rolls’ – that is, that it tilts from side to side,” he said.
Due to the power cut, the crew has been forced to steer the ship manually. “The ship has steering power, but it is controlled manually, and not via the ship’s electronic systems, as they normally do,” said Olsen.
“The situation is stable, and we no longer consider it a rescue operation,” he added.
On Thursday evening, according to the Danish Defense Operations Centre, there were helicopters on ‘stand-by’ in both Denmark, England, Norway and Germany, which could be called in if necessary, TV 2 also reported.
In accordance with latest data from Marine Traffic, the cruise ship is closely followed by one vessel from towage and rescue service company Esvagt.
