It’s the latest viral video sensation – the internet is buzzing this week with footage taken on board a cruise ship getting a frightening battering in stormy seas.
Furniture, guests and crew are repeatedly sent hurtling across a room as the ship is tossed about during a storm, and it certainly looks like a very scary ride.
In another clip, taken by a camera in a storage area below decks, a forklift truck is tossed about like a toy, with almost calamitous results.
The incident happened 400 miles off the coast of New Zealand as the Pacific Sun was returning from a cruise to Vanuatu.
What is strange is that new footage of the incident, apparently CCTV from the ship’s reception desk and from a crew-only area below decks, has emerged this week. A video showing tables, chairs, passengers and crew being tossed about in the restaurant has been on YouTube for almost two years.
The incident happened in July 2008. Several passengers were injured, and it would have been understandable if those offered a 25 per cent discount on a future cruise chose instead to remain on land.
A spokesman for Carnival Australia, parent company of the ship’s operators, P&O Australia, said: “This was an exceptionally rare occurrence. The incident was fully investigated and lessons learnt have been heeded, including the securing of tables and other furnishings aboard.”
The ship was not badly damaged.
UPDATE: As if hit by the viral jinx, Pacific Sun is in the news again today, and a forklift truck is once more involved.
The ship docked at a temporary cruise terminal in Newcastle, New South Wales, this morning at the start of a summer season for the port. The biggest coal-exporting port in the world is hoping to cash in on the rapid growth of cruising Down Under.
Unfortunately, a forklift on the quayside, being used to offload passengers’ luggage, went over the edge and into the water. The driver was rescued and paid a brief visit to hospital, but was released unharmed – although a little red-faced. No luggage was lost in the incident.
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