OSLO, NORWAY: Rescuers were working into the night on Saturday to airlift 1,300 passengers and crew off a cruise ship after it got into difficulty in rough seas off the Norwegian coast.
The Viking Sky lost power and started drifting mid-afternoon two kilometres (1.2 miles) off More og Romsdal, prompting the captain to send out a distress call.
The crew managed to restart one of the engines and drop anchor but authorities decided it was too risky for passengers to remain on board.
Five helicopters were scrambled along with coastguard and other rescue vessels.
"I have never seen anything so frightening," said one of the passengers who was rescued, Janet Jacob.
"I started to pray. I prayed for the safety of everyone on board," she told the NRK television channel.
"The helicopter trip was terrifying. The winds were like a tornado," she added.
Pictures broadcast in media reports showed passengers on board as the boat rocked up and down.
"We were sitting down for breakfast when things started to shake.... It was just chaos," said another passenger, American John Curry, as quoted in Norwegian by media.
Tor Andre Franck, the head of the police operations, said: "The boat only has one working engine and the winds are rather strong. Therefore we would prefer to have the passengers on land rather than on board the ship."
Notorious seas
The Viking Sky sent out a distress signal due to "engine problems in bad weather", southern Norway's rescue centre said earlier on Twitter.
By 9:00 pm (2000 GMT) 136 people had been evacuated, with each helicopter able to take 15-20 people per airlift.