Video: Ferry Caught in Bad Weather Slams into Dock Crane, Sparking Fire

A passenger ferry caught in bad weather collided with a huge loading crane at the port of Barcelona, Spain, today, causing it to collapse and spark an explosion.

Footage of the incident, taken by Bulgarian seaman Petar Petrov and published by Reuters, showed the ship being dragged towards the side of the dock around 8 a.m. local time. The video, filmed from a moored vessel, quickly spread across social networks.

Petrov told Reuters that strong winds had likely played a role in the crash. The ferry, which is known as Excellent, is operated by an Italian company called Grandi Navi Veloci. There were no injuries. According to the Daily Mail, the ship was carrying 420 passengers at the time.

The Associated Press (AP) reported today that Grandi Navi Veloci confirmed that strong winds and sea currents had "prevented the ship from docking." The firm confirmed that vehicles and passengers were onboard during the collision, but stressed no casualties were recorded.

A Barcelona city spokeswoman, who was not named, told AP that "a dozen firefighting vehicles and several ambulances" attended the scene. The flames are believed to have been from a number of containers, some of which had likely contained "hazardous chemicals."

On Twitter, a port union group—the "Section of Mooring of the Port of Barcelona"—published images and video clips of the ferry incident. It branded the crash a "serious accident."

🔴ACCIDENTE GRAVE🔴

El buque Excellent, de @GNVtraghetti, ha tenido que abortar maniobra de atraque por las malas condiciones meteorológicas. Al intentar salir del Puerto, el viento le ha empujado contra una grúa de TCB (APM), que ha caido pic.twitter.com/qGv3j6vZhR

— Portuaris (@PortuariosBCN) October 31, 2018

🔴IMPRESIONANTE video que nos ha llegado del accidente de hoy en el @portdebarcelona. Que horror. pic.twitter.com/zrmj5dDy1V

— Portuaris (@PortuariosBCN) October 31, 2018

It said: [Excellent] had to abort mooring maneuver due to bad weather conditions. When trying to get out of the port, the wind has pushed it against a TCB crane. They tell us there are no casualties. The fire is because the crane has fallen on containers with chemical products."

La Vanguardia, a Spanish newspaper, said the flames from the fire had left a "dense smoke" that was visible across the city. It corroborated a dozen firefighter crews had attended the dock. The blaze was contained in approximately three hours and was out by 11 a.m. local time.

On Tuesday, it emerged that a Royal Caribbean cruise ship had to make an emergency stop in Spain after experiencing technical issues and allegedly taking on water. The same day, bad weather caused a cruise ship to collide with another vessel in the port of La Spezia, Italy.

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