A cruise ship breaks moorings of the port of Palma and hits a docked oil tank

A cruise ship that was docking at the Port of Palma has broken moorings due to very strong winds and has moved to the other side of the dock until hitting a docked oil tank, without hurting any people.

Moreover, six tourists of the cruise ship have had minor injuries as a result of a broken window at Maritime Station No. 1, also because of a gust of wind. The events happened around 11.00h in the morning when the cruise ship Britannia, of 330 meters long and hit in the second alignment of the Poniente dock of the port of Palma of Majorca, has suffered the breakage of the moorings as a result of a gust of wind, leaving the vessel at anchor. The wind drove the cruise ship to the other side of the dock hitting a docked oil tank Castillo de Arteaga, which was berthed at the liquid bulk jetty.

As a consequence of the collision, the docked oil tank has suffered a hole in the hull, without spilling any liquids in the sea. The Autoridad Portuaria de Baleares (APB) has activated a Plan Interior Marítimo (PIM) at level 0 as a preventative measure. According to a first revision, the damage does not compromise the vessel's seaworthiness. Staff from the Palma Fire Brigade, pilots, moorers, tugboats, the ships' consignees, the Maritime Captaincy, the Port Police and the APB's Security and Safety Division have been mobilized.

Parallel to these events, the strong wind at the Port of Palma has caused a glass window to break at the Maritime Station No. 1. As a consequence of the glass breaking, six people, all tourists of the cruise ship, were hurt with minor wounds. The injured have been evacuated to a health center to be attended. Other than this, other incidents of minor importance happened this morning at the port of Palma due to the water and wind storm in the Balearic capital.