Las Vegas Sun

April 23, 2024

Spain: 13 injured as ferry slams into port in Canary Islands

MADRID — Thirteen ferry passengers were injured when the boat slammed into a breakwater in a port on the Canary Islands, Spanish authorities said Saturday.

Manolo Vidal, spokesman for Naviera Armas, the company that owns the ferry, says that a "loss of electrical power" caused the accident as the boat was leaving the Puerta de la Luz on the island of Gran Canaria Friday night.

Emergency services say five of the injured needed to receive attention at a hospital.

Televised images showed the ferry hitting the breakwater head-on, sending chunks of the concrete wall tumbling down onto a service road.

The regional government says it has activated an emergency plan to deal with the 3-kilometer (two-mile) fuel spill caused when the boat's impact damaged fuel lines running along the breakwater.

The company says that the ferry was able to dock after the accident and that the passengers had been placed in hotels.