(WSVN) - Cellphone video showed the moment a luxury yacht crashed with a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the Bahamas. Making it the third incident the cruise line has dealt with in the last three months.
Witnesses watched the yacht, called the Aurora, as it slammed into the side of the Allure of the Seas, which hit one of its lifeboats.
7News on Thursday spoke to witness Dayanni Bhagwandin, who recorded of the crash.
“When it got to, like, a third of the way past the cruise [ship] as it was entering the port, it swung to the right and then just kept coming at a diagonal [angle] towards the cruise,” Bhagwandin said. “So I saw that happening, and then I was like, ‘Maybe I should grab my phone, because this is kind of weird, it looks like it’s coming really close to the boat.’ And then, as I was grabbing my phone, I heard the initial impact of the yacht hit the side of the cruise.”
The yacht Aurora’ hit the ship’s port side while it was docked in Nassau, Thursday.
The impact took out the yacht’s antenna and radar.
“The yacht kept going along the cruise so I guess it kind of just kept hitting it and touching the side as it moved forward. And then eventually went on to the port,” Bhagwandin said.
The impact caused minimal damage to the 225,000 ton ship. Still, it’s departure was delayed by about 40 minutes.
Passengers on the other side of the ship said they did not feel or hear the impact, and some were only made aware of the incident when the captain made an announcement.
Another passenger video showed the immediate aftermath and reaction to the crash.
A police boat was also seen pulling up next to the yacht.
“A few other boats came by to assess the situation and there was one boat close to where the impact happened, they were taking pictures,” Bhagwandin said.
Just a few days ago, a pipe burst in a stateroom on the Royal Caribbean’s cruise liner, flooding a deck.
Last October, a woman fell overboard during a Taylor swift themed Bahamian cruise.
She was never found.
This time around, though, it appears the ship and its passengers avoided major disruption.
“It looks like the yacht definitely had much more damage so I just hope everyone on the yacht is ok,” Bhagwandin said.
It is not known if there were any injuries.
The ship is scheduled to undergo a $100 million refurbishment in just a few weeks before returning to sea in April.
No word if any additional repairs will be needed as a result of this incident.
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