A towering, out-of-control cruise ship rammed into a dock and a tourist river boat on a busy Venice canal on Sunday morning.
The collision happened around 8:30 a.m. local time on the Giudecca Canal, a major thoroughfare that leads to Saint Mark’s Square in the northeastern Italian city.
Videos of the crash show the cruise ship, apparently unable to halt its momentum, blaring its horn as it plows into the much smaller river boat and the dock as dozens of people run away in panic.
Italian media initially reported that at least five people were injured in the crash. Later, officials said four older female tourists were injured as they tried to run away on the San Basilio pier.
Call for ban on cruise ships
A government official has called for cruise ships to be banned from using the Giudecca Canal.
“Today’s accident in the port of Venice proves that cruise ships shouldn’t be allowed to pass down the Giudecca anymore,” Danilo Toninelli, Italy’s transport minister said.
“After many years of inertia, we are finally close to a solution to protect both the lagoon and tourism,” he said.
Venice is a tremendously popular site for both tourists and cruise ships, especially during the summer tourist season.
The cruise ship’s owner, MSC Cruises, said the ship, the MSC Opera, was about to dock at a passenger terminal in Venice when it had a mechanical problem. Two towboats guiding the cruise ship into Venice tried to stop the massive cruise ship, but they were unable to prevent it from ramming into the river boat.
MSC Cruises, an international cruise ship line with its headquarters in Geneva, said its ship, the MSC Opera, was about to dock at a passenger terminal in Venice when it experienced a mechanical problem.
The company says it is co-operating with authorities to figure out what happened.
“The two towboats tried to stop the giant and then a tow cable broke, cut by the collision with the river boat,” Davide Calderan, president of a towboat association in Venice, told the Italian news agency ANSA.
Calderan said the cruise ship’s engine was locked when the captain called for help.
Following the accident, calls for banning cruise ships in Venice, long a source of contention in the over-extended tourist city, were renewed.
Here the video from people angle escaping from cruise ship losing control approaching the pier in Venice.<br>The noise of siren and of clash is totally frightening, looking like a scene from a disaster movie <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/grandinavi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#grandinavi</a> <a href=”https://t.co/TGIIR2oFut”>pic.twitter.com/TGIIR2oFut</a>
—@tancredipalmeri
Wow, this just happened outside our apartment!! <a href=”https://t.co/OfSOdCU2Br”>pic.twitter.com/OfSOdCU2Br</a>
—@duncanogleskan
Ecco cosa può succedere quando dei mostri enormi attraversano ogni giorno un ecosistema delicato e fragile. All’ <a href=”https://twitter.com/UNESCO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@UNESCO</a>, a brugnaro e a tutta la politica, le <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/grandinavi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#grandinavi</a> devono stare fuori dalla laguna, subito!<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/nograndinavi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#nograndinavi</a> <a href=”https://t.co/54UGvmPsvA”>pic.twitter.com/54UGvmPsvA</a>
—@ChrisPeverieri