class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 fmXrkB”>
Waves up to eleven meters high shook and shook the cruise ship MS Maud in the North Sea on Thursday. The crew prepared for the worst and instructed the 299 passengers to put on life jackets and place them in collection points on deck.
Just a few minutes later, a huge wave crashed onto the ship, British passenger Catriona MacRae, 43, told the New York Post. “The wave literally exploded over the ship,” says MacRae, describing the shocking moment. “Other passengers reported that the officer who made the emergency call was completely wet.”
“Everyone was quite scared.”
Until then the mood was still good, as the passengers simply assumed that there would be big waves. “Everyone was quite scared afterward.”
Another passenger, Elizabeth Lawrence, writes on X about the anxious minutes. It was a “terrible ordeal”: “I’ll be honest, there were about 20 minutes yesterday when I thought the ship might capsize, it was rocking so much and we had no idea what had happened.”
After the ship was hit, the passengers also had to put on orange survival suits. These are waterproof and give passengers more time in the event of an accident in icy water.
“It was eerily quiet and calm”
The Englishwoman tells how the crew handed out the suits and helped the passengers put them on. “It was eerily quiet and still the whole time,” says MacRae.
The ship was unable to steer after the wave hit and made a distress call. The officers managed to manually steer the ship from the engine room and keep it stable. However, the crew had no idea where exactly the ship was. It was drifting disoriented and at low speed on the open sea.
At the time of the accident, the MS Maud was approximately 200 kilometers off the west coast of Denmark and approximately 330 kilometers off the east coast of Great Britain. Danish rescue workers quickly arrived on the scene. The captain reassured the passengers over the loudspeakers and stated that the ship was stable.
On Saturday night the ship sailed towards Bremerhaven accompanied by Danish tugboats. The planned Christmas cruise is cancelled. The company pays passengers for flights to London, where the journey would originally have ended. (neo)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
