Malaga-Melilla passenger ferry collides with a container ship in the Alborán Sea

The passenger ferry Nápoles, which was travelling from Malaga to Melilla, collided with the Laust Maersk container ship in the Alborán Sea in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The Maritime Rescue services from Almería sent a boat and an aircraft to the area to try to find and recover an empty container which had fallen into the sea as a result of the collision, but there were no injuries to anyone on board either vessel. The Nápoles was carrying 185 passengers and 50 crew at the time.

Another container had became hooked onto the ferry due to the accident but there was only slight damage above the water line, and the ship was able to unload passengers and cargo in Melilla at 6.30am as scheduled.

Some of those on board said afterwards that they heard a very loud noise and everything fell onto the floor. “People were panicking and starting to shout and cry,” said one man, who had been asleep and was knocked out of bed through the impact of the collision. Although he was not injured, he said the incident had made him so nervous that he felt reluctant to get on board a ferry again.

The Balaria shipping company has opened an investigation into the accident, and in the meantime the ferry Sicilia has been assigned to cover the Malaga-Melilla route.