Cruise liner collides with ship in thick fog: Brits on board

Silversea

A Silversea cruise liner full of British holidaymakers has collided with another vessel in thick fog in Vietnam.

The Silversea Silver Shadow was in Ha Long Bay when the accident took place. The following account was reported by Cruise International and CNN from Andrew Lock, a passenger on board:

"We're on Silversea Shadow cruise ship and we just collided with a Vietnamese container ship near Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. We slammed into the side of it, in thick fog.

"The other ship was severely damaged, and crew hurt. Damage to our ship is being assessed in Hong Kong. Passengers were called to muter stations.

"Our ship has a hole in the bow. Here's a pic of the other ship, it was struck in two places - their bridge, and we ripped a large tear in the side too.

"Many Brits and US on board.

"Cruise line is playing down the incident but it's serious."

But a statement from Silversea called the accident a "minor incident".

It said: "There was contact between Silver Shadow and a local commercial vessel. Silver Shadow incurred limited minor dents and guests' safety was never compromised."

Silversea said it was carrying out a full investigation into the incident.

The Italian-owned company operates six luxury cruise ships altogether. The Silver Shadow was built in 2000 and has a passenger capacity of 382 passengers.

The news comes as the cruise holiday industry is still reeling from the sinking of the Costa Concordia off the west coast of Italy in January, claiming more than 30 lives.

In February, 1,000 passengers were stranded when a fire broke out on another Costa cruise ship the Costa Allegra off the Seychelles.

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