The two assailants wore motorcycle helmets and masks as they entered the “Hamlet” ferry at 7pm on Sunday, a boat which was set to leave Helsingborg in southern Sweden soon after, wrote the Helsingborg Dagbladet (HD).

Both armed, one with a pistol and one with an automatic weapon, the assailants “fired several shots” during the robbery, although no one was injured, wrote HD.

One witness told daily Aftonbladet that the automatic weapon resembled an AK-47.

The thieves then held up the currency exchange office, with a security guard telling HD that the masked robbers got away with “several hundred thousand kronor” (100,000 kronor = $13,741).

The masked bandits then fled to land, driving a getaway motorcycle through a hole in a nearby fence, allowing them a clean and quick escape onto the streets of Helsingborg.

Witnesses on the boat have recounted the dramatic scene.

“People came running up behind me yelling ‘They’re shooting, they’re shooting’,” said one passenger to HD.

Henrik Rørbeck, head of Scandlines, told HD that some staff members who were in shock from the event have received help in dealing with the crisis.

“Our focus is on helping them right now,” he said.

Meanwhile, a full police investigation has been launched, yet there are still no suspects.

The same ferry was robbed in 2004 when thieves dressed as sailors escaped with 1.5 million kronor ($206,112).