Prinsendam takes a battering

Sunbathing passengers on the cruise ship Prinsendam were taken by surprise last week when a powered paraglider made an emergency landing on the top deck.
The ship was docked in Portimao, on the Portuguese Algarve, when a 25-year-old Brazilian man crash-landed his flimsy craft. He suffered a broken leg and was taken to hospital while the maritime police removed his paraglider for inspection.
The 837-passenger Prinsendam, smallest ship in the Holland America fleet, has been taking a bit of a battering recently.
Towards the end of a round-Britain cruise earlier this month it was hit by a freak wave which caused some damage to the bow and smashed about 50 windows .
The broken glass was swept away just in time for a party of UK travel agents to inspect the vessel during its last visit of the season to Tilbury docks on the Thames.