The cruise ship Viking Sky, which lost engine power and drifted towards land off Norway earlier on Saturday managed to start one of its engines and is now anchored 2km off the shore, Norwegian police say.
While initial reports indicated the ship had 1,300 passengers aboard, the ship operator’s website lists its capacity at 930, thus the figure appears to include the vessel’s crew.
Several helicopters and sea vessels have been dispatched to the location to evacuate people from the stalled ship.
The passengers were hoisted up one by one from the deck and airlifted to land, according to the rescue service, which said “it will take a long time” to evacuate everyone, if the need arises.
About 100 people were evacuated by 15:30 GMT, according to police.