- On Sunday, a massive cruise ship, the MSC Opera, went rogue in Venice, Italy, crashing into a dock in the Giudecca canal.
- As it made its way, the ship also collided with another tourist vessel — the River Countess, which looks tiny in comparison.
- Terrifying footage of the incident shows some passengers toppling off the River Countess, attempting to scramble to safety.
- The incident apparently transpired because the MSC Opera's engines were stuck in the "on" position.
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Around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning a massive cruise ship, the MSC Opera, went rogue in Venice, Italy, crashing into a dock. As it made its way through the city's Giudecca canal, the ship also collided with another tourist vessel — the River Countess, which looks tiny in comparison.
Terrifying footage of the incident shows some passengers toppling off the River Countess, attempting to scramble to safety.
—ITV News (@itvnews) June 2, 2019
—Iain Reid (@beanotownphoto) June 2, 2019
At least five were injured in the collision according to reports from outlets including CNBC and CBS News.
Tug boats were deployed to try and hold the boat back, however they could not restrain the Opera as it sailed on, snapping the ropes.
Read more: A cruise ship was filmed crashing into a pier in Puerto Rico
"The two tugboats tried to stop the giant and then a tow cable broke, cut by the collision with the riverboat," Davide Calderan, president of a tugboat association in Venice, told the Italian news agency ANSA.
According to The Times, the incident happened when the MSC Opera's engines were accidentally stuck in the "on" position, sending the 2,700-passenger boat careening toward the dock, unable to stop.
Elisabetta Pasqualin told CNBC she saw the incident from her terrace. She watched in horror as the ship was "advancing slowly but inevitably towards the dock."
"There was this huge ship in a diagonal position in the Giudecca Canal, with a tugboat near which seemed like it couldn't do anything," she said.
Sunday morning's incident has renewed calls to ban cruise ships from Venice's canals.
In the aftermath, Italy's transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, tweeted: "Today's incident at the Port #Venezia shows that there is no longer any reason for #grandinavi [big ships] to pass through the Giudecca."
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