Viking River Cruise Ship Runs Aground on Danube, All Passengers Evacuated

The Viking Ullur ran aground on the lower Danube River near Vidin (Bulgaria) early Tuesday, July 28. Bulgarian Border Police were called in to help rescue and evacuate all 186 passengers from the vessel.

According to Bulgarian News Agency, authorities cited low water levels as the cause of the grounding.

The ship had departed Drobeta-Turnu Severin on Monday but grounded overnight. Attempts to refloat the ship were unsuccessful. Another ship was then chartered to take on the passengers, but was unable to get close enough, at which point the Bulgarian police were called in to take over the evacuation.

Viking confirmed the grounding incident to TMR, saying: “The safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew is always our highest priority. There were no injuries to guests or crew, and the vessel remained safe throughout the incident. Guests have been safely transferred ashore and will continue their planned itinerary with a full day in Bucharest before concluding on Thursday as scheduled.”

While low water levels are typically an issue for river cruise lines in the summer, this year the industry has been especially hard hit thanks to record heat waves and a lack of rainfall.