The U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska is investigating a near-collision close call between two cruise ships.
The incident happened during a sudden heavy storm in the Port of Juneau, causing one cruise ship to break free of its mooring lines.
Celebrity Ship Almost Collided with the Carnival Luminosa in Juneau
During high winds and heavy rain this week, the Celebrity Edge was moored at the privately operated AJ Dock.
Lines snapped, and it broke free, slowly drifting towards another moored ship, the Carnival Luminosa.
It stopped just short of a collision when the bridge stabilized the ship and dropped an anchor in the harbor.
Celebrity Edge was later returned to shore safely.
“Our investigations division are running with a standard investigation, just like we would do with any similar such incident. It is just to investigate if there’s anything that could have gone better or not,” said Lt. Matt Naylor, public affairs officer for the Coast Guard of Southeast Alaska.
“Thankfully, nobody appeared to be injured. There didn’t appear to be any significant damage, so they’re going to be proceeding forward with that investigation.”
Naylor said officials have received some video footage from ship guests and residents, which has been ‘super helpful.’ “We’ve gotten tons of submissions,” he added.
Incident Caused by Sudden Heavy Storm
It happened during a thunderstorm with heavy rain, hail, and winds.
It prompted the National Weather Service to issue the first-ever severe thunderstorm warning for Juneau.
It was an unusual weather event for the season, suddenly turning from blue skies to dark clouds and low visibility.
“We’re grateful for everybody who has submitted videos to us, and grateful to the crews of all the ships that were involved for their fast action,” Naylor added.
