Frightening footage from inside Viking cruise ship tossed by rough seas

More than a thousand passengers are being evacuated from a Viking cruise ship hit by 26-ft waves between Norway and Britain, with terrifying footage posted to YouTube from inside the lurching vessel. At least 470 people were rescued from the decks by helicopter, hauled one by one to nearby Molde. No-one is reported dead, but one is said to be critically injured.

The maritime rescue service said the Viking Sky, with 1,373 passengers and crew on board, had sent out a mayday signal as it had been drifting toward land in the Norwegian Sea.

The ship was carrying 915 passengers, of which “a large number” were from the United States and Britain, the rescue service said, although it declined to be more specific.

Passengers were hoisted one-by-one from the deck of the vessel and airlifted to a village just north of Molde on Norway.

An investigation was opened into why it even set sail.