Bananas cause cruise delays in the English Channel

A cruise ship had to delay its departure from the Southampton Port of UK due to sailing hazard caused by containers floating in the sea, after having

Photo for representation purpose only

fallen off a cargo ship. Lona, a cruise ship  with a carrying capacity of 5200 passengers and owned by P&O had to delay its scheduled departure from Southampton Port on Saturday, 6^th of December, after containers were seen floating in the English Channel. The ship was enroute Spain, Portugal and Canary Island for a fourteen-day trip with passengers on-board.

According to MCA (Maritime Coastguard Agency), some containers washed-up on the shore after having fallen off the Isle of Wight from a cargo ship named Baltic Klipper on Saturday, near the Nab Tower lighthouse off Bembridge at about 6pm. It further reported that the crew on the Cargo ship was safe and no loss of life or injury occurred.

HMCG (His Majesty’s Coast Guard) sprung into action after the sightings of floating containers were reported. HMCG further stated that there were sixteen containers that went overboard, out of which “eight of the containers were reported as carrying bananas, two as carrying plantain, one as carrying avocados, and the remaining five as empty.” The balance five containers were later found to have washed ashore around Selsey, West Sussex. HMCG is coordinating with the owner of the Cargo vessel for retrieval of the containers.

The cruise ship was given a go-ahead for sailing on Sunday afternoon.