5 injured in Venice as cruise ship slams into tourist boat

Two tugboats guiding the cruise ship into Venice tried to stop the MSC Opera, but they were unable to prevent it from ramming into the riverboat.“The two tugboats tried to stop the giant and then a tow cable broke, cut by the collision with the riverboat,” Davide Calderan, president of a tugboat association in Venice, told the Italian news agency ANSA.Calderan said the cruise ship’s engine was locked when the captain called for help.Italian media posted an audio clip of the MSC Opera’s pilot telling emergency officials that the ship experienced a loss of controls and “activated all the procedures to avoid what in the end happened, which was an impact.”On an audio clip, the pilot said anchors were dropped and that tugboats connected to the ship’s bow and stern took maneuvers to stop the ship. Pasqualin, the woman who witnessed the collision, counted herself among those prior to Sunday’s crash.“I’ve always been positive about the ships, but I have to admit I’ve started to change my mind now, because this was a tragic, terrible and dramatic scene,” she said.Italian officials said the collision underscored the need to ban cruise ships from using the busy Giudecca Canal, but they stopped short of calling for a ban on cruise ships.“Today’s accident in the port of Venice proves that cruise ships shouldn’t be allowed to pass down the Giudecca anymore,” said Danilo Toninelli, Italy’s transport minister.