Terrifying moment cruise liner tilts ’45 degrees’ sending furniture smashing across the floor in freak storm
This is the terrifying moment a freak storm caused a cruise ship to tip 45 degrees on its side and send furniture flying across the floor.
The passenger ship Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Sea was at the start of its transatlantic voyage to Miami on Thursday, November 7, when it was hit by a storm, a sharp and sudden sustained gust of wind off the coast of Tenerife.
Shocking footage – taken from the ship’s promenade – shared on social media shows the chaotic scene on board the ship as both passengers and furniture were thrown off their feet.
Guests can be seen trying to maneuver through the area as the ship continues to lean at an increasingly precarious angle.
Furniture and merchandise slid across the deck, with a digital display nearly knocking over a guest. Another man was seen clinging to a table.
Shocking footage – taken from the ship’s promenade – shared on social media shows the chaotic scene on board the ship as both passengers and furniture were thrown off their feet
Debris was left behind in the aftermath of the storm
The terrifying incident lasted less than ten minutes and only one guest required medical attention.
This meant the 12-night cruise had to make an unscheduled stop in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands, so the injured guests could leave, but the cruise is now back on course.
Dan So, 41, filmed the dramatic footage after leaving an onboard pub quiz. He noticed the deck tilted to a 45-degree angle and recalled hearing “screaming and breaking glasses.”
He said: ‘As I left the pub I heard shouting noises, glasses falling around and the cruise starting to tip over.
“You see a whole billboard hitting a guy and he saves himself and grabs his girlfriend. He was in a state of shock.
‘I wondered if this was normal, but the more I heard people screaming, the more scared I became and I had to turn off the video.
“It wasn’t the full tilt you see in the video, but about halfway.”
“Some people told me to come to them, so we held each other and the chairs around us.
Dan So (pictured), 41, filmed the dramatic footage after leaving an onboard pub quiz. He noticed the deck tilted to a 45-degree angle and recalled hearing “screaming and breaking glasses.”
Mr So’s footage shows guests trying to maneuver through the area as the ship continues to lean at an increasingly precarious angle.
‘I thought this might be the end and the ship would fall into the water.
Mr. So, from Toronto, says it was a “huge relief” when the ordeal was over and believes climate change could be the storm’s culprit.
He said: ‘Normally waves cause the ship to rock, but this tilted on one side for five minutes. It held its position for about three minutes.
“It shows that climate change is creating things that even experienced cruisers haven’t seen yet.”
It is believed that the ship encountered a storm, a sudden storm that often occurs at sea, and the wind caused the ship to overturn.
He captioned his TikTok video “the cruise hit a storm in the Atlantic Ocean and tilted 45 degrees into the ocean.”
One person commented: ‘The ocean is not to be played with.’
In a statement, Royal Caribbean said: ‘During an unexpected gust of wind near Tenerife, Spain, one of our sailings experienced sudden movement.
“One of our guests was injured and required additional medical care, so the ship called at Las Palmas, Spain for medical disembarkation. We have communicated these changes directly to our guests.’