Passengers and crew secure, yet navigation and radar systems disabled by rogue wave smashing bridge windows.
The MS Maud, a Norwegian cruise ship, experienced a power failure when a rogue wave broke windows on the bridge in the North Sea. This incident, reported by Danish authorities and the ship’s owner on Thursday, resulted in the loss of navigation capabilities. The Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre confirmed the safety of all 266 passengers and 131 crew members. A spokesperson for the centre stated, “The ship is without power, with the main engine operational but the navigation systems and radars non-functional.”
Approximately 200km off Denmark’s west coast and about 330km off Britain’s east coast, powerful winds shattered windows on the vessel’s bridge. This breach allowed water ingress, leading to a power outage on the bridge, as reported by the center.
The vessel, owned by HX, a subsidiary of Norway’s Hurtigruten Group, departed Floroe, Norway, on Thursday and was scheduled to reach Tilbury, UK, on Friday.
In an emailed statement, Hurtigruten reported, “Earlier this afternoon, on December 21, MS Maud experienced a temporary power loss following an encounter with a rogue wave.”
Currently, the ship has affirmed the absence of significant injuries among passengers or crew due to the incident, and the vessel’s stability is maintained,” the statement declared.
A towage vessel from the civil rescue company Esvagt was anticipated to reach the ship around 22:30 GMT.
While being manually steered from the engine room, the ship lacked navigational capabilities. Esvagt support vessels had arrived to assist in navigation until the ship could be towed to port.
“There doesn’t seem to be any imminent threat to the ship at the moment. If the captain perceived a danger, he would have requested evacuation, which hasn’t occurred,” stated the spokesperson for the rescue center.
The region experienced a storm late on Thursday, featuring hurricane-force gusts from the northwest. The Danish Meteorological Institute forecasted these conditions to persist into Friday.
