Cruise Ship Runs Aground Off the Coast of Latvia

GG Staff | 05/05/2008 - 11:17 | Add new comment

More than 1,000 passengers evacuated this morning

The Mona Lisa, a cruise ship carrying German passengers, is stuck in the Irbe Strait, the main route between the Latvia and the Baltic Sea. The luxury liner ran into a sandbar early yesterday and after trying unsuccessfully to dislodge it, the crew agreed to an evacuation this morning.

Mona Lisa Ran Aground Cruise Ship Runs Aground"The operation is proceeding smoothly and the passengers are fine," coast guard officer Ruslans Kulesovs told AP News, saying the weather conditions were "nearly perfect."

According to AP News, the coast guard began transferring passengers onto 2 naval ships earlier this morning. They will be transported to Latvia's port city on the northwestern coast, Venspils. From there they'll be taken by bus to Riga.

The ship, built in 1966, was carrying 652 passengers, most of them elderly Germans and 327 crew members. Rescuers initially pumped water from the 660ft long ship to lighten it and then moved onto emptying its fuel tanks by pump as well.

It's good and stuck though.

CNN.com is reporting that no injuries have been reported and the ship appears to be damage-free. The cause of the accident hasn't been determined. "People are very calm," a ship employee, Martins Mironovs, told Latvian National Radio on Monday. "They have a lot of humor about it. They didn't pay a lot for the cruise."

Have you ever been aboard a cruise ship that ran into problems? Were you happy with how the situation was handled?

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Cruise Ship Runs Aground Off the Coast of Latvia