Just Cruises Plus

Ship Fire Kills Two in Norway

An intense  fire aboard Hurtigruten Line’s MS Nordyls killed two crewman and forced passengers into lifeboats.  The ship was near Aalesund, Norway when an apparant explosion tore through the engine room.  In addition to the two deaths, nine crewmen and three rescue workers were injured.  There were no injuries among the passsengers.  “We were sent up on deck and given our lifevests,” Danielle Passebois-Paya, a French tourist told Norwegian daily Aftenposten.  It took only a few minutes after the alarm and we were in the lifeboats”  “It was a well-organized evacuation,” she added.  “The crew did a really good job.  Everything was calm and went smoothly.  There was no panic.”

The Nordlys was in danger of capsizing due to the amount of water pumped into her to fight the fires.  This is exactly what happened to the French Line’s Normandy at a New York pier during WWII which ended the short career of, what may have been, the most beautiful ship ever built.

Most ships of the Hurtigruten Line ply the craggy western coast of Norway, stopping to deliver mail and cargo to the towns and villiages along the coast.   It is a great way to get close to the people of Norway while enjoying spectacular scenery.  However, some ships sail to Antarctica and Greenland.