3 Missing After Cruise Liner Rams Cement Carrier Off Cuba

MIAMI — A Carnival Cruise luxury liner with more than 1,500 passengers and crew aboard collided with a Cuban cement carrier off the Cuban coast today, cutting the freighter in half and leaving three of its 45 crewmen missing, the Coast Guard said.

No injuries were reported aboard the 734-foot liner, the Celebration.

Coast Guard spokesman Jeff Karonis said the accident occurred at about 6 a.m. in the Old Bahamas Channel, 20 miles off Punta Guarico on Cuba’s northern coast.

Karonis said that the rear section of the 320-foot Capitan San Luis sank immediately but that the bow was still afloat.

“There was minimal damage to the Celebration, and there is no word of any injuries on that ship,” Karonis said.

Karonis said one of the rescued Cubans had his foot amputated and was being airlifted by helicopter to Mathewtown in the Bahamas. From there the seaman was to be flown to a Miami hospital.

He said that the Celebration was searching for the three missing men and that the Coast Guard had dispatched helicopters and two cutters to the scene.

Petty Officer Luis Diaz said the Coast Guard did not know if the Cuban government was assisting in the rescue operation.

“We have notified them this morning, but we have heard nothing,” Diaz said.