Viking Polaris passengers speak out about 'rogue wave' crashing into cruise ship trends now
The passengers aboard the doomed Viking Polaris cruise ship that hit a 'rogue wave' killing an American woman and injuring several other travelers describe the sheer terror of their voyage.
Deborah Terry, 69 and her wife Tamarah Castaneda, 61, were in their cabin on the third floor of the ship - number 3023 - getting ready to retire for the night when the massive wave hit the boat around 10.40pm.
'It was a horrendous jolt like the ship had ran into a brick wall. We had no experience with a rogue wave before,' said Terry, an avid traveler who told DailyMail.com that Antarctica was the seventh continent she has traveled too.
The couple says the day after the ‘rogue wave’ hit, the captain got on the loudspeaker to share the news.
'Her voice was hesitant ... choking,' Terry recalled. 'She said, "Unfortunately we lost a passenger in the incident. We are going to cut the trip short. Let's take a moment of silence."'
Deborah Terry, 69 and her wife Tamarah Castaneda were in their cabin on the third floor of the ship getting ready to retire for the night when the massive wave hit the boat around 10:40pm
The couple says the victim, Sheri Zhu, 62, lived in California, had family in Taiwan and that her husband sustained injuries as well. Little is still known about the deceased woman.
Castaneda, a retired firefighter, told DailyMail.com that she initially thought there was an internal explosion on the ship. She said the noise was so powerful it felt as if 'two cars crashed into each other.'
She said the captain immediately made an announcement over the speakers, saying: 'Code Delta... Code Delta... This is not a drill... Stay in your cabins.'
Terry said she heard yelling. Then she overhead some of the crew being told that 'the ship was taking on water' and were dispatched to the second level of the ship to rescue some of the people from the impacted rooms.
She said after the horrific noise everything suddenly got 'incredibly quiet.'
'You couldn't hear the ship moving. I thought we stopped,' Castaneda said.
As not to waste any time, she said she began putting a drybag together of items and then another announcement was made that the ship was going to continue moving.
Captain Margrith Ettli had to turn the ship around and head back to Argentina after a passenger shattered her leg on an execution. During the voyage home was when the massive ‘rogue wave’ hit
Prior to the massive wave hitting the cruise ship, a passenger shattered her leg while on a Zodiac Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB). The injury was so bad that she needed surgery. A helicopter couldn’t get to them, so the cruise ship had to head back to Argentina
Before the woman's injury, the couple had planned to go sea kayaking for their next excursion. It was canceled after the Viking Polaris had to turn around and get back to Ushuhia, Argentina - where their voyage started - so the woman could get surgery
Earlier in the day the couple was on a Zodiac Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) with ten other passengers traveling to a land mass in Antarctica. There had been several boats all from the Viking Polaris out on the sea doing the same excursion.
Terry said the weather was getting bad, the wind was very strong and the waves were picking up which while aboard the Zodiac heading back to the ship.
That is when she overheard on the radio, 'Stand by person injured,' and found out that a female passenger on another IRB had been seriously injured and another passenger had fallen overboard
