Shocking images have emerged of damage inside a Royal Caribbean cruise ship after bad weather rocked the vessel, leaving one passenger with injuries.
The damage occurred onboard the Explorer of the Seas cruise on Thursday night while the ship was travelling from Barcelona on its way to Miami.
The ship was near Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands when it was hit by an “unexpected wind gust”, Royal Caribbean Cruises said in a statement.
This caused the ship to experience “sudden movement”, resulting in glass bottles smashing, shop products falling from shelves and furniture to be toppling over.
Passenger Jonathan Parrish told CBS News that he was sitting down to watch a show at the cruise ship’s theatre when he felt the boat make a “hard right turn” followed by a second, “more intense” turn.
The show was halted, and Parrish said he and other passengers then left the theatre to see chaos throughout one of the ship’s main concourse areas.
Photos show alcohol bottles smashed and glass broken throughout a bar area, while clothing items, accessories and other memorabilia had been flung off the shelves, with display stands toppled.
Some glass panels that were part of the ship’s decorative features had also shattered onto the floor and other furniture pieces had fallen over due to the movement.
“Everybody kind of walked around a little bit, just gawking at all the bottles from the bar that had fallen,” Parrish said.
“All the merchandise that you could purchase in the Royal Promenade was just all spread out throughout the floor.”
Parrish told CBS that the ship’s captain said winds had jumped from 46 miles per hour to 86 miles per hour, which is strong enough to be considered hurricane-force winds if sustained.
“I think there [were] about five minutes in there where everybody was wondering what was going on, but as soon as the captain came on and made the announcement of what had happened, [it] kind of gave you a sense of calmness,” said Parrish, adding that he felt he was in “the best hands you could have been in.”
Terry Kelly, another passenger on the ship, said that “most people seem to be okay” with the incident, but a few people were left “unnerved” after the boat was rocked.
After the weather had battered the Explorer of the Seas, passengers were asked to return to their cabins for an accountability check, which lasted for around an hour.
Royal Caribbean said the ship had to make a call at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, following the incident due to injuries sustained by one of the passengers who needed medical care.
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