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A recent class action lawsuit seeks damages from Viking Cruises after more than 1,300 passengers were stranded off the coast of Norway when a cruise ship, called the Viking Sky, suffered engine failure.
To make matters worse, the Norwegian coast was battered with severe winds that day – making it hard for local rescue teams to airlift passengers from the ship.
Unfortunately, only a few hundred passengers were able to be airlifted. The rest of the passengers and the crew on the ship had to wait until the next morning when the vessel regained power. Twenty of the passengers reportedly suffered from injuries while stranded on the cruise ship.
“We have already begun our internal investigation and our goal is to establish a complete and thorough understanding of what happened,” Viking Cruises told ABC News shortly after the incident. “We welcome the investigations that have been launched, and will fully support them.”
Following the stressful ordeal, Axel and Lauren Freudmann filed a class action lawsuit against the company.
The New Jersey couple claims that the cruise line ignored severe weather warnings and “negligently sailed through notoriously perilous waters into the path of a bomb cyclone.”
The Freudmanns claim that local weather forecasts had predicted an “intense cyclone” which would cause “extremely severe wind gusts” exceeding 75 miles per hour. Despite this forecast allegedly being available as early as March 16, the Viking Sky reportedly set sail from Tromso, Norway on March 21.
Passengers such as the Freudmanns say they had “no idea” they were sailing straight into “a historic winter weather event.”
The Viking Cruises class action lawsuit also claims that the ship’s engines were negligently maintained, resulting in a complete loss of power near Hustadvika.
This area is reportedly “known for its notoriously perilous waters dotted with jagged reefs and is considered one of the most dangerous parts of the Norwegian coastline.”
After the Viking Sky lost power, the ship was reportedly “battered and tossed as it was pushed dangerously close towards the hazardous reefs.”
“You really have the worst-case scenario, which is a vessel being without power, in the middle of a storm, subject to the mercy of 30-, 40-, 50-foot waves, hurricane-force winds,” plaintiff attorneys told ABC News.
The Freudmanns claim that they and other passengers were “tossed about like ragdolls” in the terrifying weather. Passengers allegedly experienced further injury in the form of “hours of terror, unsanitary conditions, lack of ventilation, and trauma” amidst the dangerous conditions and a “high-risk evacuation.”
“Passengers, fearing for their lives, held onto whatever they could find while water rushed in through numerous other areas of the vessel,” the Viking Cruises class action lawsuit claims. “Furniture was overturned and tossed throughout the vessel; broken glass littered all levels of the vessel; elevators were inoperable; waves crashed through open and/or shattered balcony doors.”
The Freudmanns are reportedly seeking $10 million in damages. They are joined by Daniel and Shannon Flewelling, a couple from Connecticut who allegedly continue to experience harm from the situation. They reportedly came down with the flu after arriving home which they claim was a direct result of the perilous conditions they faced. Daniel reportedly suffered from complications and remains in the hospital.
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