Travel World Horrified by Latest Cruise Ship Tragedy

Two days after a collision between a cruise ship and a small sightseeing vessel, the international travel community is trying to process how such a mistake could happen.

Surveillance video of the 95-passenger Viking Sigyn river cruise ship colliding with the Mermaid, which was carrying 35 people at the time of the incident, has made its way across the net. The collision pushed the Mermaid underwater, causing the boat to quickly capsize and sink. Seven people are confirmed dead, while 21 remained missing as of last night. 

The tragedy has also left those who were traveling on the Sigyn shaken. Clay Findley, who was traveling on the Sigyn when it struck the Mermaid, told the BBC “I thought at first we were going to miss it, but the front of the Viking hit the back of that little boat…and then the hull popped up on the opposite side of the ship, just a few seconds later, and then it was down.”

This latest cruise ship related incident has left the cruise industry reeling. Even in a good year the industry sees numerous high profile instances involving passenger injuries and deaths. But 2019 seems to be shaping up to be an extraordinarily bad year, even by those standards. For example, this is the third incident this year which involved a Viking vessel and resulted in passenger injury or death. In March a Viking ship became stranded off the coast of Norway, necessitating an emergency aerial evacuation of hundreds of passengers, and in April a Viking vessel collided with an oil tanker. 

It is incredible that, in this age of advanced maritime technology, cruise ships continue to be a deadly mode of travel for so many passengers.