Christian charity urges prayer for all at sea as Britons tell of ‘frightening’ evacuation from cruise

Two hundred Britons were on board the Viking Sky ship which sent a mayday call after losing engine power.

Footage online appeared to show the ship rocking dramatically, with debris falling from the ceiling and furniture including chairs sliding across the floor as passengers sat waiting to be rescued.

Derek and Esther Browne, from Hampshire, said the “whole boat was swaying, it was very rough” before they were airlifted to safety.

Mr Browne told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Stephen Nolan: “We had a few people on stretchers, several with cuts, two with broken limbs, but fortunately we were alright. We were airlifted onto the helicopter which was quite a frightening experience.”

Addressing the dangers of being sea travel, John Green from the Apostleship of the Sea said: “Obviously, the passengers are on their holiday, on a vacation and this really is something that they wouldn’t have expected, but what it really highlights is actually the sea, despite our advances in technology is really still a force to be reckoned with.

“The crew on the other hand, they would have received training for such circumstances but when such an eventuality like this does occur, the levels of stress and the demands on the crew are really going to be quite high.”

Calling on Christians to use this case as a reminder to pray for those at sea, he said:…