OSLO: A cruise ship that broke down in rough seas off the Norwegian coast with some 1,300 passengers and crew on board has restarted three of its four engines and will be towed to port, emergency services said Sunday.
“Three of the four engines are now working which means the boat can now make way on its own,” emergency services spokesman Per Fjeld said.
The Viking Sky lost power and started drifting mid-afternoon Saturday about two kilometers (1.2 miles) off More og Romsdal in dangerous waters and high seas, prompting the captain to send out a distress call and trigger a massive airlift operation.
The airlift was continuing in the early morning, Fjeld said.
Police said 338 of the 1,373 people on board the Viking Sky had so far been taken off by helicopter.
The vessel is making slow headway at two to three knots (4-5 kilometers) an hour off the dangerous, rocky coast and a tug will help it toward the port of Molde, about 500 kilometers northwest of Oslo, officials said.
Police said that 17 people had been taken to hospital.
The passengers are mostly British or American, they added.
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Three of four engines on stricken Norway cruise ship restarted
Three of four engines on stricken Norway cruise ship restarted
- The Viking Sky lost power and started drifting mid-afternoon Saturday about two kilometers off More og Romsdal in dangerous waters and high seas
- The captain forced to send out a distress call and trigger a massive airlift operation
Pakistan’s defense minister says that there is now ‘open war’ with Afghanistan after latest strikes
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s defense minister said that his country ran out of “patience” and considers that there is now an “open war” with Afghanistan, after both countries launched strikes following an Afghan cross-border attack.
In a post on X, Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces and expected the Taliban to focus on the welfare of the Afghan people and regional stability. Instead, he alleged, the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “into a colony of India,” gathered militants from around the world and begun “exporting terrorism.”
“Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us,” he said.
The latest escalation of violence between the neighboring countries makes a Qatar-mediated ceasefire appear increasingly shaky. The Pakistani defense minister didn’t mention the ceasefire.
In a post on X, Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces and expected the Taliban to focus on the welfare of the Afghan people and regional stability. Instead, he alleged, the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “into a colony of India,” gathered militants from around the world and begun “exporting terrorism.”
“Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us,” he said.
The latest escalation of violence between the neighboring countries makes a Qatar-mediated ceasefire appear increasingly shaky. The Pakistani defense minister didn’t mention the ceasefire.
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