The cruise ship MS Maud was returning to the UK from a 14 night Northern Lights cruise when it was caught in a severe storm in the North Sea. During the storm, the ship was struck by a rogue wave, shattering the windows on the bridge deck. The flooding of the bridge deck resulted in a temporary loss of power as well as damage to the ship’s navigation systems and radars. There were also reports of a loss of bridge steering control that was taken over by an engine room backup.

The 266 passengers and 131 crew members aboard the Maud are safe, according to the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre. 

The ship, owned and operated by cruise company HX, a unit of Norway’s Hurtigruten Group. left Floroe in Norway on Thursday and was due to arrive in Tilbury in the UK on Friday.  The Maud is now being towed to Bremerhaven in Germany, Danish authorities said.

A spokesperson for the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said “An Esvagt ship is towing it slowly towards Bremerhaven in Germany at around 8-9 knots,” 

“I don’t think there is any danger to the ship now. If the captain thought so, he would have asked to be evacuated which he hasn’t,” the rescue centre spokesperson said.

The area was hit by a storm late on Thursday with hurricane-force gusts blowing from the northwest that were forecast to continue on Friday, the Danish Meteorological Institute said.

Thanks to David Rye for contributing to this post.