In the information age of the Internet, it seems that everyone is a "citizen reporter" or "photographer/videographer" these days. No where is that more apparent than when a big story breaks and television news outlets use on-the-scenes photos and video captured on someone's mobile phone.So, it's no surprise that a story has shown up on CNN iReport, a user-generated content section of CNN.com—complete with a photo and the breathless headline "Italian cruiseship Silversea Shadow crash into container ship." Not only is the ship's name incorrect, but by describing it as "Italian" the story plays off the recent sinking of Costa Concordia in a way that casts Italian passenger shipping companies in a negative light and sensationalizes an incident that probably doesn't deserve such hype.
The story also relates that the accident occurred in heavy fog and, "Passengers were called to muster stations." That sounds like a smart move on the part of the ship's captain. Thankfully, no one aboard Silver Shadow was injured. It's interesting that a disclaimer "Not vetted for CNN" appears alongside the story.
I was interested in the cruise line's account of what happened and received the following statement from Silversea Cruises.
Statement on Silver Shadow
Silver Shadow was involved in a minor incident on March 16, 2012 at around 4:20 GMT as it was approaching the pilot station in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. There was contact between Silver Shadow and a local commercial vessel. Silver Shadow incurred limited minor dents and guests' safety was never compromised. The ship was fully operational and continued on its course to Ha Long Bay where all shore tours operated normally.I'm not saying that passenger's report was inaccurate, but in the heat of the moment—especially after being called to muster stations—perceptions can be somewhat overwhelmed by emotion.
Silversea will carry out a full investigation into the incident.
Photo © CruiseDiva.com
We were on that ship on our first cruise and found the incident so frightening that we will never go on another.
ReplyDeleteD & G Marks
We were also on that cruise. It was a very serious collision.
ReplyDeleteI saw the Vietnamese coastal bulk carrier as it pasted our friends veranda. My wife snapped a picture of the Vietnamese ship with the front half of its bridge destroyed by the collision.
If the bulk carrier had not been empty and/or our bow had not hit the other ship near their stern, the outcome from our prospective would have been far different. As it was, there was damage to our ship's bow both above and below the waterline.
There is no excuse that i am aware of for hitting a ship of that size, in fog,with today's radar. Whoever was on the bridge of our ship was clearly not carrying out his \ hers duty at the time of the collision.
We read there was an injury on the Vietnamese boat, which docked in Ha Long Bay.For the record, we did not go back and try to help them.
C Cornish