Over-50s holiday company apologises for brochure after Twitter backlash
Saga, the insurance and travel company aimed at the over-50s, has apologised after customers were sent a brochure advertising a cruise “exclusively for Brits”, prompting a furious backlash.
Twitter user Anthony Bale, who is a university professor, said his mother was “outraged” after being sent the magazine, the front page of which outlined the characteristics of the cruise.
Continue reading...Crew said people without visas must disembark ferry to Florida because of CBP’s ‘last-minute call’ that they would not be admitted
More than a hundred Bahamian citizens desperate to escape the devastation of Hurricane Dorian were ordered off a ferry to Florida, sparking a dispute between US immigration officials and the operator of the vessel.
Related: Search for survivors of Hurricane Dorian continues in Bahamas
Continue reading...Divers have found 25 bodies after a pre-dawn fire sank a scuba diving vessel off Santa Cruz Island. Nine people remain unaccounted for, presumed dead, as the US Coast Guard continues its search. The fire broke out onboard the 23-metre (75ft) Conception at about 3.15am on Monday, with 39 passengers onboard. Five crew members were rescued by people on another boat
Continue reading...Five crew members escape but 33 passengers and one other crew member missing or dead
Twenty-five people have died and nine remain missing after a boat was engulfed in flames and sank off the coast of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.
The US Coast Guard said five crew members escaped from the 23 metre (75ft) commercial scuba diving boat but 33 passengers and one other crew member were missing or found dead after the fire early on Monday morning.
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg arrived in New York on Wednesday, stepping on to dry land after crossing the Atlantic in a zero-carbon yacht with a passionate message to tackle global heating.
Crowds had gathered to welcome her for hours beforehand, ready to welcome Thunberg’s arrival on the unconventional solar-powered craft.
Continue reading...Green bottle was discovered on a remote shoreline by a man collecting firewood
A man discovered a 50-year-old letter in a bottle from the Russian Navy on the shores of western Alaska.
Tyler Ivanoff found the handwritten Russian letter early this month while gathering firewood near Shishmaref about 600 miles (966km) northwest of Anchorage, KNOM-AM reported on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Italian minister proposes plan for diverting a third of big ships to other ports by next year
Italy’s transport minister has proposed a plan for diverting massive cruise ships from Venice’s historic centre, with a view to rerouting a third of the vessels by next year.
Danilo Toninelli told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that the ships could gradually be shifted away from the Marittima terminal and instead dock at Fusina, a small port on mainland Venice, or Lombardia, a privately owned terminal. The minister suggested that the rerouting process could begin in September.
Continue reading...Italian city’s port authority asks eight other port cities to ‘join forces’ to combat problem
Venice’s port authority has called on Europe’s most popular cruise ship destinations to close ranks in tackling the dangers posed by massive vessels.
The appeal to the ports of Barcelona, Amsterdam, Marseille, Dubrovnik, Zeebrugge, Hamburg, Palma and Málaga comes as Venice leaders clash with government officials over finding a solution to a problem that has long rankled Venetians.
Continue reading...In the boating community, being a good neighbour is a must – here’s how to keep the peace
The boating community is growing rapidly, particularly in London. As a result, pressure on mooring spaces and facilities is also growing – making it more important than ever to be a good neighbour in order to make the life aquatic harmonious for everyone.
The general rule is: if someone is outside their boat, say hello. And be prepared to chat about your toilet – boaters love to talk about how they dispose of their waste. Whether you have a pump out, cassette or compost, it’s the quickest way to bond with another boater over a beer on the deck.
Continue reading...The remarkable transformation of canals is a global phenomenon and the ultimate symbol of how our cities have changed – for good and ill
Every second Monday of the month, a small group of volunteers meets in the training room of a Birmingham supermarket. They discuss what has long seemed to many of their friends a crazy and probably doomed idea: how to excavate a contaminated 40-year-old waste dump, create an urban marina, restore three miles of derelict canal and build several new bridges and locks.
Last month, however, the meeting of the 18-strong Lapal Canal Trust committee was joyous. After 20 years of trying to restore this short stretch of the 200-year-old Dudley No 2 canal, permission had finally been granted, they were told.
Continue reading...Iranian state media have released footage of the seized oil tanker Stena Impero detained in the strait of Hormuz on Friday, marking a dramatic escalation in the worsening standoff in the Gulf. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have taken the British-flagged ship into port with its 23-strong crew, and Iranian officials claimed it had infringed maritime regulations
Continue reading...UK government spokesman says three Iranian boats were warned off by HMS Montrose, but Tehran denies involvement
Three Iranian boats tried to intercept a British oil tanker in the Gulf before being driven off by a Royal Navy warship, the UK said, in a major escalation of tensions in the vital shipping channel off Iran.
The incident took place in the strait of Hormuz through which the commercial vessel British Heritage was attempting to pass on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Family’s lawyer claims window was left open in children’s play area on 11th storey of Freedom of the Seas in Puerto Rico
An 18-month-old Indiana girl who fell to her death from the 11th storey of a cruise ship in Puerto Rico plunged from a window inexplicably left open in a children’s play area, the family’s attorney has claimed.
Police in Puerto Rico had said on Monday that Chloe Wiegand apparently slipped from her grandfather’s hands on Sunday while he was holding her out of an 11th-floor window on the Freedom of the Seas.
Continue reading...Ada Colau will also oppose airport expansion to curb tourism and pollution
Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, has pledged to restrict the number of cruise ships allowed to dock in the city and to oppose the expansion of the city’s airport, saying: “We don’t have infinite capacity.”
Colau said the limits would reduce pollution in the city, where air quality regularly exceeds World Health Organization limits for nitrogen oxide and PM10 particulates.
Continue reading...Iran summons UK ambassador over incident off Gibraltar as tensions escalate over nuclear deal
Royal Marines have helped seize an Iranian supertanker suspected of carrying oil to Syria off the coast of Gibraltar, escalating tensions between the UK and Tehran as the agreement aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear programme unravels.
A detachment of nearly 30 British troops working with the Gibraltarian police intercepted the vessel, believed to be carrying 2m barrels of oil, in a dramatic manoeuvre Spain said had been conducted at the request of the US.
Continue reading...Russia refuses to release details about vessel or its mission ‘to protect national security’
The Kremlin has said it will not reveal the vessel type or mission of the 14 sailors who died onboard a top-secret submersible on Monday because the information is a closely guarded state secret.
The remarks came as information has trickled out about the vessel, reported to be an advanced “spy submersible”, and its highly decorated crew, which served in a secretive unit under Russia’s main directorate of deep-sea research and represented some of the navy’s best and brightest.
Continue reading...More than 100 rivers and canals flow beneath Tokyo, but from the ground it’s hard to notice them. Why has the city turned its back on water?
Of the near-endless flow of people over the busy Shibuya scramble crossing every day, few realise that beneath their feet is something else flowing, unseen and unnoticed: the crossing of two ancient rivers, the Uda and the Onden.
Beneath all the concrete and neon, Tokyo is a city built on water. It is the reason the Japanese capital’s 37 million citizens are here at all. From fishing village to seat of political power, canny water management was a key driver of the city’s extraordinary growth.
Continue reading...Captain of larger vessel that collided with tourist boat is detained after sinking in which seven have been confirmed dead
The captain of a vessel that collided with a tourist boat on which seven people died has been arrested by police as the search continued for 21 people still unaccounted for after the disaster on the Danube in Budapest.
The 64-year-old captain of the larger ship, the 135-metre four-storey Viking Sigyn, is suspected of endangering water transport leading to a deadly mass accident. In line with Hungarian laws, the suspect, a resident of Odessa, was identified only as Yuriy C.
Continue reading...Sightseeing boat was by the Hungarian parliament building when it collided with another vessel
Seven South Koreans have died after a sightseeing boat sank in the Danube, close to the Hungarian parliament building in central Budapest, Hungarian and South Korean officials have said.
Thirty-three South Koreans were onboard the boat when it collided with another vessel, South Korea’s foreign ministry said. The 26-metre tourist boat was also carrying two Hungarian crew members.
Continue reading...Russia is overhauling ports as it readies for more traffic via Northern Sea Route due to warmer climate cycles
Russia launched a nuclear-powered icebreaker on Saturday, part of an ambitious programme to renew and expand its fleet of the vessels in order to improve its ability to tap the Arctic’s commercial potential.
The ship, dubbed the Ural and which was floated out from a dockyard in St Petersburg, is one of a trio that when completed will be the largest and most powerful icebreakers in the world.
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