Report: Viking Sky outage could have been ‘one of the worst disasters at sea’

A Viking Cruises ship which lost all power in a strong storm narrowly avoided becoming ‘one of the worst disasters at sea in modern times,’ a report said.

The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority published its full report of the 2019 incident which led to hundreds of passengers being winched off the ship by helicopter.

It was a ‘ship’s length away’ from running aground, it said.

A power outage left the Viking Sky at the mercy of the elements and caused dozens of injuries to ship guests.

The captain issued a mayday call and nearly 500 guests were evacuated off the ship before the vessel was able to limp into the port of Molde.

Of those evacuated, 36 received medical attention at hospital.

The report confirmed the Viking Sky’s engines failed because of ‘insufficient lubricating oil in all of the operating diesel generators’ lubricating oil sump tanks.’

Also, one of the four diesel generators were not functioning.

“The investigation identified operational, technical, and organisational safety issues that in different ways contributed to the blackout.”

The NSIA report concluded the ship should never have left the port of Tromso on its journey.

Viking Sky was carrying 1,374 passengers.

The report made several key safety recommendations to prevent similar incidents in the future. 

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