Friday, March 20, 2015

Cruise Passengers Killed in Tunisia Tourist Attack

UPDATE 9:30am

Not all the news related to cruising was good this week. Reports from Tunisia indicate that seventeen cruise passengers were killed on Wednesday during a terrorist attack at the Bardo Museum in the nation's capital during a tour ashore. The gunmen attacked foreign tourists, who just happened to be from cruise ships, as they arrived in buses at the museum.
Five passengers from Costa Fascinosa were killed and eight were injured by the terrorists.

Twelve passengers from MSC Splendida were also killed, thirteen were injured, and two that were previously unaccounted for were found taking refuge inside the museum.
Those figures are subject to change.

Upon learning of the attack, both cruise lines immediately ordered all excursion buses to return to the ships. While cruise passengers do not appear to have been specifically targeted, on-board security was raised to the highest level and security was tightened at the port. Before the ships sailed on delayed departures, care teams from the cruise lines arrived on board the vessels to provide assistance to the victims.

None of the dead or injured were from North America.

MSC and Costa have cancelled all future calls in Tunisia and other cruise lines are expected to follow suit.

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