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Passengers: “They felt a strong impact”
Of: Adam westin, Josefine Karlsson, Sophie Tanha
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The Viking Line ferry Amorella has run aground off Åland.
According to the information, the emergency call “mayday” has gone out of the ship, and the ship is said to take water.
– At the moment, it seems that we will have to evacuate everyone, says Jan Nemlander at the Western Finland Maritime Rescue Center.
At lunchtime, alarms sounded about the Viking Line ferry Amorella that had run aground at Järsö off Åland in Finnish waters.
207 passengers and 74 crew members are on board, according to the Swedish Maritime and Air Rescue Center (JRCC), which is ready to help.
– Our first priority was to offer aid to Finland by helicopter and plane, says Jörgen Hansson at JRCC.
Mayday-anrop
According to information from Aftonbladet, the emergency call “mayday” has left the ship. The emergency call also indicates that the boat is taking in water.
– It’s probably true. I cannot completely say that it is true, but it is a secondary task that we also receive, says Jörgen Hansson.
Viking Line confirms that some kind of incident has occurred.
– Looks like there must have been some form of grounding. I don’t know more at the moment but we will update the information. Right now we are calling for crisis management and finding out what happened, says Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, Viking Line’s chief information officer.
Western Finland Maritime Rescue Center management operator Jan Nemlander confirms there are a total of 281 people on board.
– At the moment, it seems that we will have to evacuate everyone. We have the first units in place now and several ships around so we’re ready, he says.
– The ship ran aground in Järsö, so there is no risk of it sinking. There is also no one who should have been injured, says Jan Nemlander.
Photo: READER’S IMAGE
The Viking Line ferry Amorella has run aground in Åland
Witness on board: “Strong impact”
A witness on the ship tells Aftonbladet that all the passengers have gathered in a conference room on board.
– In fact, I was asleep when I felt a strong impact. After a few minutes we were told that the boat had bottomed out and would stop, then the alarm went off and we had to meet in the conference room before it shuts down.
One of the people on board is Eva Vaihinen, who was in her cabin when the ship shook.
– I heard a scratch and thought “This was not right”. Then I looked outside the cabin and saw that we were passing an island, very close. Then I just felt “Okay, so it’s probably time to get dressed” because I lay down in the taxi and took it easy. I went to the information and then it came through the speakers that we had a ground connection and that the ship would continue for a while and then stop and see what was wrong and how the damage is, he tells Aftonbladet.
All passengers must have been evacuated from taxis to deck.
According to the information, the ship must have been in trouble and was forced to run aground to prevent it from filling up with water, Åland radio reports. In 2013, the same ship ran aground at Julgrund near Järsö.
The text is updated.
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