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Crane crashes into one of world's largest cruise ships in Bahamas, injuring eight: 'I just missed by the grace of God'

Video shows large construction crane smashing into stern of massive cruise ship

Chris Riotta
New York
Tuesday 02 April 2019 23:21 BST
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A crane has collapsed onto one the world's biggest cruise ships injuring eight people in the Bahamas.

The Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas was sitting on a dry dock on th Grand Bahama island for for routine maintenance work when it was struck, company officials said.

Video of the incident showed the large crane smashing into the ship’s outdoor entertainment deck at about 1:45 pm local time, damaging the exterior of the stern.

“I was right there on the dock,” a voice can be heard saying in the footage shared by local press in the Bahamas. “I just missed by the grace of God. Big accident.”

The injured were reportedly employees on the dry dock. All were said to be in stable condition.

There were no guests on the ship, which was scheduled for a trip to Florida this week to pick up passengers at a port in Orlando. It was not clear whether it would still be able to set sail.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said, “We are responding to a construction site incident at the Great Bahamas Shipyard, where Oasis of the Seas is currently in dry dock.”

They added, “We are accounting for the whereabouts of all site personnel. We are aware of damage to the dock structure and to construction cranes. We are assessing damage to the ship.”

The Oasis of the Seas — one of the world’s largest cruise ships — is based at Port Canaveral in Florida.

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