Cruise passengers aboard the MSC Armonia experienced quite the shock when their ship crashed into a pier as they began to dock into the port off Isla Roatan, Honduras. The ship was attempting to dock on Tuesday, April 10 around 9 a.m. when it struck and crumbled parts of the pier.
Stunned witnesses reported that the 65,000-ton vessel was coming into the port too quickly. Video footage of the event recorded patrons of a restaurant located off the pier being told to get out of the kitchen as the ship quickly approached.
According to the ship’s automatic tracking data, the vessel was shown to be traveling at about 11.6 knots on its approach but slowed to 8.7 knots as it came closer to shore, which is roughly equivalent to 13.3 mph on the approach and 10 mph as the ship came to shore.
As the ship quickly came to shore, crew members were reported as trying to stop the ship by throwing two heavy anchors overboard shortly before the ship hit the dock. Unfortunately, their efforts were unsuccessful.
The damage to the ship was relatively minor and no injuries were reported. The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation. Guests of the ship were able to disembark for shore excursions shortly after the crash.
After repairs were made to the ship and it was cleared by Honduran Port State Control authority, the ship was then able to sail from Roatan to complete the remainder of the cruise course. The ship left around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning for the next stop on its trip, which was Belize.
The Havana-based MSC Armonia, regularly travels to the Cayman Islands. The Armonia was built in 2001 and can hold approximately 2,700 passengers and 700 crew members. At the time of the crash, the vessel was on a Caribbean itinerary which included either a seven-day or 14-day cruise. The Armonia is scheduled to arrive in George Town on April 19, according to the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands.
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