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Luxury Carnival cruise ships collide off Mexico

Damage to a carnival cruise ship which collided off Mexico.

Damage to a carnival cruise ship which collided off Mexico. Photo: Twitter

Two Carnival cruise ships have collided in the port of Mexico’s Caribbean resort of Cozumel, the luxury cruise operator says, crushing the stern of a 290-metre vessel and leaving passengers stunned at the loud impact.

One person was lightly injured while evacuating a dining room on the massive ship named Carnival Glory, according to Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator. A passenger said the incident occurred during rough sea conditions.

“Carnival Glory was manoeuvring to dock when it made contact with Carnival Legend which was already alongside,” the company said in a statement on Friday. “We are assessing the damage but there are no issues that impact the seaworthiness of either ship.”

Carnival added that the ship itineraries were not affected.

Civil protection authorities in Cozumel said the incident took place at around 8.30am local time on Friday and that officials were investigating.

Passenger Jordan Moseley said he was eating breakfast on the docked Carnival Legend, a 294m ship that can hold more than 2000 passengers, when he felt the crash.

“All of a sudden we felt the ship rock to one side and then back into place,” Moseley told Reuters. “A few minutes later, the cruise director announced that the Carnival Glory had crashed into our ship while docking due to the high winds and rough ocean conditions in Cozumel.”

A video taken from an upper deck of Carnival Glory, which can carry nearly 3000 passengers, shows pieces of the ship tumble on to the deck of the oncoming vessel, with some splashing into the churning water.

“Oh my God, look at that ship!” an onlooker can he heard saying in the video posted on social media.

Other images of the battered vessel show a railing along the Carnival Glory stern bent downwards at a roughly 45-degree angle, revealing a twisted and mangled ship interior.

Christopher Macijeski, who was on a third cruise ship nearby, said there was a loud boom from the impact.

“Could see it coming before it happened,” he said.

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