Thursday, November 10, 2022
A gangway collapsed while a Norwegian Cruise Line ship was stopped in Panama on Tuesday, injuring multiple guests.
The line’s Norwegian Encore ship was in Panama City at the time.
There is no report of damage to the cruise ship, though minor cosmetic damage is likely at the point where the gangway was attached to the vessel.
The Breakaway-Plus-class Norwegian Encore, the largest ship in Norwegian Cruise Line’s fleet, is currently on a 21-night one-way repositioning cruise.
The ship left Seattle on Sunday, October 23, 2022, having just concluded the Alaska season, and is due to arrive in Miami on Sunday, November 13, where she will be homeported for the winter, offering primarily 7-night Caribbean itineraries.
Tracking data shows the ship has now left Panama City and is transiting through the Panama Canal, en route to her next port of call in Cartagena, Colombia.
No information is available about whether the ship left port on schedule, but it does not appear there will be any delays to the remainder of the ship’s itinerary and she should arrive in Miami as planned.
The 169,116-gross-ton vessel has a guest capacity of 3,998 at double occupancy, with 1,735 crew members. The ship entered service in November 2019.
Passengers who sustained injuries were taken to a medical facility nearby, a spokesperson for the cruise line told a news agency in an emailed statement.
The cruise authority has dispatched its CARE Team to Panama City to offer additional support to these guests, the spokesperson said.
The cruise line did not specify how many guests were injured, how severe their injuries were, or provide a reason for the collapse.
Norwegian Encore is currently on a 21-day Panama Canal cruise from Seattle to Miami. The ship will arrive in Miami on Sunday.
The gangway was apparently quite steep at the port and appears to have bent due to a lack of underlying support. Guests were walking across the gangway at the time of the collapse.
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