MSC Opera Crashes into Riverboat in Venice

[KBYUCougar]

22 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Or maybe someone on shore was quick enough to loose the lines when they saw what was happening... I've seen parking jobs like that in Paris...

In the video taken from a balcony at the front of the MSC Opera, it appears that someone quickly untied the lines of the river boat as they were rushing passengers off it at the same time. 

[ukrccl_a]

14 minutes ago, Fredric22 said:

Ships are usually in command of the local pilots while docking and leaving port.  I am not saying this excuses any kind of mechanical issues, but the local pilot is always on the bridge during these times and is actually the person in charge. 

 

That's not actually correct - whilst the pilot will be onboard and either providing advice or even issuing direct commands on what speed, course etc. to take - the Captain still has the ultimate authority for the ship and is responsible for the safety.

 

The only place in the world that this is different is the Panama Canal - where the captain will sign over authority to the pilot for the duration of the transit.

[mafig]

What some have posted is correct, the Captain is always in command, except in the Panama Canal.  Local pilots are there to advise on the local conditions …. 

Edited June 2, 2019 by mafig

[EngIceDave]

I don't think anyone implied that a captain relinquishes total control to the pilot, only that the pilot is there to do their job, getting the ship in and out of a port.

[capriccio]

We have been on two of the sister ships of the River Countess.  I cannot imagine how frightening it must have been.  At 9 am breakfast was probably finished or finishing up and excursions starting so hopefully there weren't too many passengers on board but probably most of the crew (around 40 - 50 people IIRC) would still be on board.

[mafig]

16 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

I don't think anyone implied that a captain relinquishes total control to the pilot, only that the pilot is there to do their job, getting the ship in and out of a port.

The pilot does not get the ship in and out of port.

The pilot offers his expert advice on the local conditions.

 

[EngIceDave]

Same thing

No need to be so technical

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were watching the news while eating breakfast this morning when we saw and heard the news about this accident.

 

Very scary for everyone.

 

Thank you everyone for all the videos -- looked at them all.

 

Hope the 5 people who were injured will be okay.

[clskinsfan]

View from the ship:

 

 

[capriccio]

If anyone is interested in the size difference between the MSC Opera and the Uniworld River Countess....

 

Uniworld River Countess:  361 feet long , 3 decks high (30 feet?), 37.5 feet wide with up to 130 guests and 42 crew.

 

MSC Opera:  902 feet long, 177 feet high, 105 feet wide with up to 2679 passengers and 728 crew.

Edited June 2, 2019 by capriccio

[clskinsfan]

In the videos you can see the staff of the river boat trying to get people off of the ship on the gangway. There is a guy hanging on the gangway while the ship runs into them. I cant tell if anyone fell overboard. Scary stuff though.

Edited June 2, 2019 by clskinsfan

[EngIceDave]

I heard on news that those injured fell into the water

[GeezerCouple]

5 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

I heard on news that those injured fell into the water

 

It looked like a few fell in, seemingly among those caught at just the wrong moment getting of the riverboat.

I'd love to hear that they were, indeed, only injured!

 

GC

[EngIceDave]

Far as I can tell from various news outlets, only injuries

[fstuff1]

10 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

In the videos you can see the staff of the river boat trying to get people off of the ship on the gangway. There is a guy hanging on the gangway while the ship runs into them. I cant tell if anyone fell overboard. Scary stuff though.

 

i dont see anyone releasing the ropes tying the riverboat to the bollards.

so the riverboat was docked without being secured? (good thing in this case since the msc ship would have smashed a locked in boat into pieces.)

 

[ukrccl_a]

17 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

Same thing

No need to be so technical

 

Its quite an important difference if discussing who was responsible for this incident happening to be honest.

 

Just glad to hear that there were no serious injuries or fatalities reported - must have been scary for those aboard the River boat.

[capriccio]

A comment from Uniworld is in this article. There are also pictures of the damage done to the River Countess.  https://www.cruisehive.com/cruise-ship-crashes-into-river-vessel-and-dock/32146:

 

"Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection ship, The River Countess, was hit by the MSC Opera, a large ocean ship while docked at San Basilio Cruise Terminal in Venice, Italy this morning.

 

Four guests with minor injuries were escorted to the hospital by Italian-speaking Uniworld staff. No crew members were injured.

 

The accident occurred after most guests of the 13-passenger (sic; should be 130)  River Countess had disembarked and were transferring for flights home."

Edited June 2, 2019 by capriccio

[clskinsfan]

From those pictures it looks like the river boat was definitely moored. Look how the side of the ship has been completely bent outwards. My guess is the lines snapped when the ship ran into it. The angle that the ship hit them was about as good as it could be. instead of running right over them it hit them and pushed them away from the dock. Crazy.

[FLACRUISER99]

1 hour ago, Fredric22 said:

Ships are usually in command of the local pilots while docking and leaving port.  I am not saying this excuses any kind of mechanical issues, but the local pilot is always on the bridge during these times and is actually the person in charge. 

 

1 hour ago, EngIceDave said:

Correct

Pilot is on control in entering and leaving port

 

I always watch them hop off and onto the pilot boat

NO the Pilot only acts in an advisory position, the Captain is in command of the ship, The only place that the pilot takes command is the Panama Canal.

[toinoi]

Hi-res video, looks like posted by a crew member...

 

 

[capriccio]

1 minute ago, clskinsfan said:

From those pictures it looks like the river boat was definitely moored. Look how the side of the ship has been completely bent outwards. My guess is the lines snapped when the ship ran into it. The angle that the ship hit them was about as good as it could be. instead of running right over them it hit them and pushed them away from the dock. Crazy.

 

Uniworld's comment says that the River Countess was docked.

[mef_57]

18 minutes ago, capriccio said:

If anyone is interested in the size difference between the MSC Opera and the Uniworld River Countess....

 

Uniworld River Countess:  361 feet long , 3 decks high (30 feet?), 37.5 feet wide with up to 130 guests and 42 crew.

 

MSC Opera:  902 feet long, 177 feet high, 105 feet wide with up to 2679 passengers and 728 crew.

For a visual contrast, CNN has a picture of them moored togetherhttps://www.cnn.com/2019/06/02/europe/cruise-ship-crashes-tourist-boat-venice-intl/index.html

Amazing no more injuries that stated.

[Captain-John]

6 minutes ago, toinoi said:

Hi-res video, looks like posted by a crew member...

 

 

Wow, what a perspective. I didn't realise earlier that this is outwith the basin cruise ships dock in. I had assumed it was during the docking process this happened but not so.

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

Normally only river cruises and the occasional smallish ocean cruise ships dock where River Countess is.  But to get to where almost all ocean liners dock, the ocean liners travel through the canal and into the port.  Attached is a screen shot of Venice near San Basilio.  Toward the right hand side about a third of the way into the screenshot, you see a small bumpout  near a red "360" circle at the water line  This is the area of the San Basilio vaporetto station.  The dock for river ships is to the left of that and the multi-berth Venezia Passenger Terminal is farther to the left (northwest). 

Edited June 2, 2019 by IWantToLiveOverTheSea

[MBP&O2/O]

My opinion .... for what it’s worth.

When entering or leaving port our Bridge Movement Books would state quite categorically: To masters orders but to pilots advice.

No misunderstanding.

It was not unusual to see a pilot ‘overridden’ ... 

The other couple of things that strike me are

(1) I thought there was a 4 knot (or less) speed limit in Venice?

(2) Both anchors appeared to be fully housed in the hawse pipe? Not that they would have had much chance to use them but we used to walk one anchor out as a contingency ... all you had to do was release the brake and away it went ... 

Interesting outcome to this one me thinks😀