A Norwegian newspaper reports that a woman in her 40’s fell from the deck of a Hurtigruten cruise ship as it approached the port in Ålesund.
Sunnmorsposten reports that the unidentified woman was located in the water about an hour after she went overboard from the M/S Finnmarken following an extensive search involving a helicopter and six vessels.
After her initial rescue, the passenger was rushed to a local hospital in Ålesund where she was described as in “extremely serious” condition. She was transferred to the larger St. Olav’s Hospital in Trondheim where she reportedly died.
A Norwegian police department posted details of the progress of the search and rescue efforts via Twitter:
#Ålesund sentrum. En person skal ha falt i vannet fra Hurtigruta, idet denne var i ferd med å legge til kai. Nødetatene er på stedet og søker etter vedkommende. Oppdatering kommer.
— Politiet MøreRomsdal (@PolitiMRpd) October 30, 2019
Forbes and Newsweek covered the story in English.
Forbes stated that “Local police held the vessel in Ålesund while an investigation was conducted. They have since said there is ‘no reason to believe’ there was any criminal activity involved, but the investigation will continue in order to ‘clarify the circumstances’ surrounding the woman’s fall.
According to cruise expert Dr. Ross Klein, there have been 356 people who have gone overboard since 2000. To our knowedge, no one has gone overboard from a Hurtigruten ship in the past.
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Photo credit: MS Finnmarken in Kirkenes – Chris from Wien, Austria CC BY-SA 2.0, commons / wikimedia.