Cruise Ship crashes into Venice port and riverboat

I recently heard reports that there was another cruise ship tragedy, and as an avid cruiser, cruise ship mishaps have always intrigued me. As safe as cruising has become since the Titanic, we are aware that things DO happen. On Sunday at about 8:30 am (local time in Venice), the MSC Opera cruise ship crashed into dock at the San Basilio cruise terminal as well as a smaller river boat where people were dining on the top. The crash happened on the Giudecca Canal, a major thoroughfare that leads to Saint Mark's Square. After reading several reports regarding the crash, at least 4 were injured. According to BBC news, In a conversation with the harbour master, the captain of the MSC Opera says that dropping two anchors was not enough because the engine was "locked". "We have activated all possible procedures to avoid impact," he says. In a voice recording, the captain of the MSC Opera was heard describing what had been done in an attempt to bring the vessel to a standstill after losing control. "We put the tugboats in position to widen the gap [between the boat and the deck]," he says, adding that at some point cables attached to the tugboats had broken. The head of the tugboat association involved in guiding the ship into its berth, Davide Calderan, confirmed the engine failure and said the captain had reported it "immediately". "The engine was blocked, but with its thrust on, because the speed was increasing," he said. Apparently there has been ongoing controversy regarding cruise ships sailing down the Giudecca and many believe they should be moved. While they have been working on a solution for quite some time, they have yet to figure out a viable solution, and the crash has reignited calls to ban large vessels from the city's Giudecca canal which is one of Venices major waterways. Venice's port authority called for action to resolve the issue of high cruise ship traffic, however the government has previously tried to resolve the cruise ship debate. In 2013, it banned ships weighing more than 96,000 tonnes from the Giudecca canal but the legislation was later overturned. Critics say large ships such as the MSC Opera pose a conservation risk to the lagoon city, pollute its waters and mar its beauty.