Cruise ship carrying 266 passengers to England left drifting in the North Sea after losing power

A CRUISE ship carrying 266 passengers to England was left drifting in the North Sea yesterday after losing power.

A large wave is thought to have caused the outage on the MS Maud.

Tommy Simonsen

The Hurtigruten Expeditions cruise ship MS Maud was left drifting in the North Sea[/caption]

Danish rescue operators managed to regain contact with the ship

The ship’s windows were smashed by overflowing water, as the blackout wreaked havoc on the Hurtigruten Expeditions cruise ship.

The outage is understood to have been caused by a large wave – leaving 266 passengers and 131 crew members temporarily stranded in the middle of the North Sea.

Danish rescue operators managed to regain contact with the ship.

It was then able to launch a mission to safely guide it to land.

The ship was said to be on its way to Tilbury, it had originally set off from Florø, Norway.

This latest incident follows a A P&O cruise ship that was sent crashing into an oil tanker off Majorca amid extreme storms and gale force winds in August.

Brit passengers onboard were injured in the terrifying smash after the Brittania snapped its moorings.

It was seen drifting off its dock in Palma, Majorca, before crashing into a moored oil tanker next to it.