Killer waves strike cruisers on the Med

The terrifyingly heavy walls of water crashed into the Cypriot-owned Louis Majesty cruiser yesterday night, as it sailed across the Mediterranean from Barcelona in Spain to Genoa in Italy. The ship, believed to have been carrying 1,350 passengers and 580 crew, has now returned to the Spanish port to tend to the victims. It will then once again set-sail to Genoa, the final destination on its twelve-day cruise.

There had been no warning prior to the abnormally high waves rising from the sea, with a French naval official confirming with the BBC that there were “no signs of the least problem with the Louis Majesty”. There had been, however, strong winds of more than 100km/h. Back in February, The Riviera Times reported on the dangers posed by the Mediterranean Sea, which can be very powerful, especially when there are gales or the weather is stormy.

Coastguards in Marseille have said that they believe this latest incident may have been, in fact, caused by an isolated tsunami. A report issued last summer revealed that the Mediterranean region is at a high risk of being hit by tsunamis (a series of waves most often caused by the displacement of sea water thanks to an earthquake, for example, or a volcanic eruption). Despite the fact that it is considered to be more vulnerable than the Indian Ocean, there is worryingly no tsunami early-warning alert system for the region.

HM