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Cruise Ship Runs Aground Off of Grand Bahama
We were on assignment on Grand Bahama Island January 4-8. As we cleared the inlet en route to the dolphin sanctuary, this huge cruise ship listing slightly to one side came into view. The 950 foot long MSC Poesia ran aground in around 15 feet of water around two miles offshore of Port Lucaya.
Earlier that day, a Grand Bahama based Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association %$65$ RIÀFLDO UHSRUWHG WKDW WKH &UXLVH;
Liner MSC Poesia had run aground at Port Lucaya near Freeport, Bahamas. Later that evening at 10:59pm, when asked for further XSGDWHV WKDW RIÀFLDO UHSRUWHG WKDW
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waited for the tide to get high at 6:00PM, she was pulled off with 4 tugs and a 5th tug standing by. At 8:00PM she was free and continued on her journey at 19.5 kts to little Salvador". Based on that speed, we can assume that there was minimal damage to the vessel.
The ship itself was helping by running with the engines in reverse. One passenger reported that it took the ship almost 30 minutes to stop moving after the initial contact with the bottom. Imagine, all that time the huge vessel was scraping along the bottom.
In the news reports researched for this article, there was virtually no attention paid to the damage that the huge cruise ship LQÁLFWHG RQ ORFDO UHHIV ,Q IDFW WKH GDPDJH to the affected area was described as catastrophic. One Grand Bahama tour operator had posted several videos onto
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