Viking Line ship runs aground in Åland archipelago

A Stockholm-bound ship of the cruise ship operator Viking Line coming from Turku ran aground in the Åland archipelago on Sunday afternoon.

The vessel named M/S Amorella laden with 200 passengers and 80 crew members stuck the ground in Hjulgrund area of the archipelago at about 12:50 pm, said Viking Line sources.

Rescue workers completed evacuation of the passengers and crew members after the accident but none of them was injured, said the ship authorities in a Twitter post.

They were initially taken to a school in Mariehamn converted into an evacuation centre.

The accident might have been taken place either due to a technical fault or a human error, said the authorities, adding that they were investigating into the accident to ascertain the damage to the vessel.

The Finnish Safety Investigation Authority (Otkes) said it has launched an investigation into the accident and the West Finland Coast Guard said that no oil leak was detected in the water.

Hjulgrund is the place where M/S Amorella met with a similar accident in 2013.

Meanwhile, the Viking Line authorities said the vessel M/S Amorella will be replaced by M/S Gabriella on the Turku-Stockholm route from Monday and passengers will be informed about it accordingly.

News agency Xinhua adds: According to a soundtrack of the maritime communications, obtained by local media Aftonbladet, the Amorella sent "mayday" signal, and an officer speaking from the ship said that several watertight compartments had been ruptured and entry of water took place. The ship had then decided to continue to the shallow waters of the nearby island to keep it stable.

Four small coast guard cutters began evacuating people via small outside doors near the water level. Passengers were taken to a Red Cross assistance center in the Aland islands. No injuries have been reported.

The ship was on its regular route from Turku, southwestern Finland to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and the incident took place before scheduled arrival in the port of Mariehamn, in the Aland islands.

The accident occurred just one day after the Turku-Stockholm shipping route was opened for unrestricted travel following the new COVID-19 safety criteria.

Amorella can take 2,400 passengers, the shipping line has said, but due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, there were only some 200 guests abroad.