This is the moment terrified British tourists were left stranded as cruise ships abandoned ports amid tsunami warning after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off Russia this morning.
Evacuations were ordered in Hawaii, Japan, Russia, Colombia and part of the U.S. West coast after quake hit near Russia’s eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, casting out 15ft waves across the Pacific.
Panicked tourists took to social media to share their desperation as cruise ships appeared to leave Hawaii without passengers.
One TikTok user, @demifreeman, posted a video of people frantically running down a port towards their ship on the social media site.
The clip said: ‘POV: tsunami in Hawaii and your cruise is leaving without people.’
‘Actually insane,’ the passenger said in the caption.
She added: ‘We are going to be in the middle of the tsunami in the ocean.’
The US Tsunami Warning Centers said waves exceeding three metres above the tide level were possible along some coasts of northwestern Hawaiian islands.
Governor Josh Green said flights in and out of the island of Maui had been cancelled as a precaution, before authorities cancelled a coastal evacuation order.
As people brace themselves for possible disaster, some holidaymakers have reported cruise ships are leaving without passengers
While in another video, posted by @mandythecruiseplanner , appeared to show a bus load of people who had missed a cruise in Hawaii
While in another video, posted by @mandythecruiseplanner, appeared to show a bus load of people who had missed a cruise in Hawaii.
‘So we made it to the port, but the ship is leaving,’ Mandy explained.
She added: ‘The ship is leaving and now we’re going to higher ground and people are upset, and this is not me making light of the situation, this is me just saying it’s crazy, it’s chaos, nobody knows what’s going on, our bus driver had no idea what’s happening.
‘People on the ship, we have family on the ship, they’re terrified for us. We’re terrified for us.’
The holidaymaker shared how other passengers were coping, describing how some were even ‘crying’.
She said: ‘We’re going to be going to higher ground now, I’ll keep you posted about what’s happening, I did not expect this.
‘People are crying, we’re going to higher ground, an employer is yelling at people, people are yelling at the employee, this is crazy.’
She finished with: ‘I love you guys, I’ll keep you posted, keep the faith.
‘This is the first time I’ve ever not made it to the ship and I’m worried for all the kids, the kids are just terrified on the ship and communication is not great.’
British tourist Rachael Burrows, from Macclesfield, Cheshire, was also forced to rush back to a cruise ship on Hawaii before it left for safer waters this morning.
She told BBC Breakfast: ‘We were on a tour around the volcanic area of the Big Island.
‘Towards the end of the tour, as we were luckily heading towards the cruise ship, we started getting emergency warnings sign on our phones.
‘The first one was tsunami you are in immediate danger, you need to move away from the coast to higher ground.’
The tour guide was at first dismissive of the warning, saying they happened all the time and it ‘won’t be anything’.
Ms Burrows added: ‘We started getting more through saying times when the tsunami would hit.’
Suddenly, she said, they were told it was time to go. Their outing on the island was cut short and passengers hurried back to the ship.
‘It was quite scary because all the sirens started going off in the area,’ Ms Burrows said.
‘We were luckily some of the last ones to get on the cruise ship. Then we could see a lot of other people getting dropped off and lining up, but they didn’t make it.
‘They were then told to get to higher ground on shore.’
Speaking to Sky News, Ms Burrows said that 600 passengers were left stranded on Big Island in Hawaii.
‘The tour operator just messaged to say 600 people didn’t get onto our ship. They were then told to find refuge at higher ground. So it was quite scary.
Vacationers stand on balconies at the ‘Alohilani Resort’ looking towards Waikiki Beach after authorities warned of the possibility of tsunami waves, following an earthquake which earlier struck off Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. July 29, 2025
Visitors look on from their Waikiki hotel balcony waiting for the arrival of a tsunami at the Ala Wai Harbor, Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii on July 29, 2025
Oahu residents seek refuge from the threat of tsunami in a Walmart parking lot in Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii, Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Hawaii locals desperately evacuated to higher ground on Wednesday after the quake struck off Russia, pushing 15ft waves out across the Pacific.
The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency advised residents to remain at least 100 feet away from inland waterways or marinas connected to the ocean due to wave surges and possible flooding.
‘If possible, remove or deploy vessels to deep water,’ the agency said.
The Pacific warning centre has since downgraded the Hawaii tsunami alert to ‘advisory’ and said it was safe for residents to return to evacuated areas.
A major tsunami is not expected to strike the U.S. state of Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said in an update, and there were no reports of major damage.
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