An American couple who were aboard a cruise ship that was violently rocked by massive waves and 50mph wind gusts recalled the terror they experienced as walls of water engulfed the vessel just off the coast of Norway.
Rodney Horgen, 62, and Judy Lemieux, 66, of Deer River, Minnesota were among several hundred passengers rescued from the Viking Sky, a 12-day luxury cruise along the Norwegian coast, on Saturday.
Passengers described conditions as comparable to ‘being on the Titanic’ and feared they would drown as the ship was tossed around the Norwegian Sea.
‘I tried to grab her, but I just couldn’t,’ Horgen told the Star Tribune, recalling when his wife was being swept away by water that had inundated the inside of the seventh-floor restaurant.
He said that the winds were so fierce passengers on board believed that the ship was about to turn on its side.
Rodney Horgen and Judy Lemieux, two retired doctors from Minnesota, were aboard a Norwegian cruise ship that was caught in rough seas on Saturday
Horgen said he and his wife were one of the first who were airlifted to safety
‘The swells were hitting us broadside, just leaning the ship back and forth, almost to the point we thought it was going to tip,’ Horgen said.
‘People were getting tipped over in their chairs.’
Not only were people being tipped over, but tables, utensils, and china were being thrown about, according to Horgen.
Some 20 people were injured before the ship stabilized and rescue forces were called to evacuate the passengers.
Lemieux said that a 6ft-tall wall of water barreled toward her through the window of the restaurant.
The force of the water which came into the restaurant sent her flying.
‘There was a chair coming at me with the legs,’ she recalled, ‘and I thought it was going to take my eyes out. Then Rod grabbed me.’
Horgen and Lemieux were one of the first passengers to be evacuated by helicopter.
The cruise liner was on its eighth day of the 12-day ‘In Search of the Northern Lights’ cruise
Passengers on board the Viking Sky wear life jackets as they wait to be evacuated on Saturday. As many as 1,300 passengers and crew were rescued from the disabled cruise ship by helicopter
Ambulance and red cross staff were ready and waiting on the dockside as the Sky approached
Tug boats and supply ships escorted the stricken craft towards the Norwegian port town
The retired doctors said it was difficult for them to accept being rescued before others.
‘Probably one of the hardest things I had to do was walk through this hallway where people were just waiting there, thinking like “you are the ones who get to get off”,’ said Horgen.
‘That was hard for me and my wife. It brought tears to our eyes.’
The company which operates the ship, Viking Ocean Cruises, paid for the couple’s stay at a hotel in Molde, Norway.
It also covered the costs of the flight back to Minnesota. The couple was also offered a free cruise in the future.
‘There’s a good chance we’ll take the same cruise,’ Horgen said.
‘I’m confident in them.’
His wife was not so sure.
Horrifying photos have emerged which show the scale of the damage inside the vessel
Furniture was thrown around and glass shattered when he engines died and the craft shuddered
One passenger said: 'We could see that we were getting blown in towards some rocks'
‘I think I need some more time to think about it,’ Lemieux said.
The Horgens were among more than 400 people who had to be airlifted to safety
