P&O Britannia cruise ship docks in Southampton for lifeboat repair

By Charlotte AndrewsBBC News

A cruise ship which crashed during a storm in Mallorca has returned to port for a lifeboat repair.

P&O Cruises' Britannia broke free from its moorings and collided with a freight vessel off the Spanish coast on Sunday.

A lifeboat from the ship, which arrived in Southampton on Friday, was damaged and will be removed and repaired.

P&O said it was an "extraordinary incident" and the result of a sudden and unexpected weather front.

The ship, which was on a 14-day cruise around the Mediterranean, had visited Spanish ports Cadiz, Cartegena and Ibiza before the incident at the port in Mallorca.

An inspection found "structural issues" with one of the lifeboats following the collision, which could not be repaired on board.

P&O said the ship, which can carry 3,647 passengers, was "close to capacity" at the time of the collision.

It meant 321 passengers had to leave the ship to comply with maritime rules in the absence of the damaged lifeboat.

They were put up in a Mallorca hotel complex for two nights because of flight disruption and flown home on Wednesday afternoon.

Britannia departed Palma de Mallorca on Monday evening with the remaining passengers.

But the 2015 vessel had to miss its final stop in Gibraltar in order to return to Southampton for repairs.

It arrived at the Port of Southampton on Friday at 06:32 (BST), where passengers Ingrid and Gavin McCoy were among the thousands that disembarked.

The couple were in a coffee shop on the quay overlooking the ship when the collision took place.

As the storm hit, Mrs McCoy said: "The water was starting to whip up, metal railings flying past the window, people trying to hold on to stuff.

"Then there was announcement, they said 'this is not a practice, this is a real emergency'."

Mr McCoy said he felt like he was in "some sort of drama" when it happened.

Recounting the scariest moment, he said: "We were told to go back to our cabins, we came around a corner and all of the crew were wearing life jackets, there was a sea of people going up and down the stairs and a sense of alarm.

"Every cruise starts with a muster station drill, but you never think anything will happen."

P&O said Britannia would leave at 20:00 (BST) on Friday for its next trip around Northern Europe and Scandinavia and that other future cruises would also go ahead as planned.

A spokesperson for the cruise company added that the damaged lifeboat was "being taken away to be repaired" and will be "returned to Britannia when it is ready."

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