The cruise ship Mona Lisa that ran aground on May 4 has been brought afloat, Liene Ulbina, the spokeswoman of the Latvian Coast Guards press service, told Itar-Tass.
The Mona Lisa with 984 persons abroad ran aground on the morning of May 4 in the Irben Strait off the Latvian coast at a distance of 18 kilometres from the coast. As many as 651 passengers and eleven crewmembers were evacuated from the ship on Monday. Another 322 crewmembers remain on board the ship on the captain’s decision.
The causes of the incident are not yet stated.
“The vessel was directed to Ventspils port where its technical condition will be checked. If the ship’s hull is not damaged and there is nothing wrong with its technical condition it will continue on its way,” Sarma Kochane, representative of the Latvian maritime administration, told ltar-Tass.
She said salvage workers had not yet discovered any flows with the ship’s hull and there had been no fuel leaks from the vessel into Baltic waters.