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MSC Armonia cruise ship crashes into a dock in Roatan

From USA Today

A giant cruise ship that smashed into a dock in the popular Caribbean destination of Roatan, Honduras Tuesday morning has already set sail for its next port of call.

The MSC Armonia, which can carry as many as 2,679 people, had arrived in Roatan at 11 a.m. on April 10 when the incident, which was captured on video by stunned onlookers, took place.

“While manuevring alongside, for reasons that are currently still being duly investigated, the ship deviated from her course and grazed the end of the pier,” MSC Cruises wrote in an email.

Damage to the ship was minor, the company says. After repairs, Honduran Port State Control authorities cleared the ship to continue its journey. At about 5:30 a.m. this Wednesday morning, the ship left for Belize and is scheduled for a 1 p.m. arrival.

The company says that all passengers and about 721 crew members were not injured.

“There was never any risk for guests or crew on board,” the company says. “There was also no impact for the environment. In fact, while there was a slight delay for our guests to disembark, all who were scheduled to go ashore on excursions and other activities disembarked as planned.”

MSC Cruises did not provide additional information.

A video posted by gCaptain, a maritime news website, shows the 65,542-ton ship approaching the dock swiftly. On the video, a man at what appears to be a restaurant by the pier can be heard shouting multiple times in Spanish, “Get out of the kitchen.”

As the ship comes to a stop, onlookers approach the end of the deck of the restaurant to shoot iPhone photos.

A longer video on the World News YouTube channel shows the ship running aground on the beach.

According to gCaptain, the ship’s automatic tracking data showed that it was arriving from Cozumel, Mexico.

“The data showed the vessel was doing about 11.6 knots on its approach but slowed to 8.7 knots as the vessel came closer to shore,” gCaptain reported.

That’s about 13.3 mph on its approach and 10 mph as it came on shore.

According to MSC Cruises’ website, the ship’s average speed is 18 knots (20 mph) but can go as fast as 20.1 knots (23.1 mph).

The ship is on a Caribbean itinerary that includes a stop in Havana. Guests had the option to book either a seven-day or 14-day cruise.

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