Italian authorities charged 13 cruise passengers after a late-night fight broke out aboard one of Costa Cruises’ largest ships, Costa Smeralda. Video footage of the fight can be seen below.
The incident took place as the ship sailed on a 7-night cruise out of Sicily, Italy. At the time of the fight the vessel was between Naples and Palermo.
Reports from Italian media, including Napolitoday and Il Fatto Quotidiano, say the trouble all began near the ship’s nightclub.
A group of young men from the Salento area, who had boarded in Civitavecchia, got into an argument with a group of Sicilians who joined the ship in Palermo.
Apparently, what started the whole altercation was a comment directed toward a young woman which one of the young men didn’t appreciate.
And as you can see in the video below, it didn’t take long for things to turn physical.
Punches and kicks were thrown, and chairs, tables and other items from the club area flew during the fight. It then spilled into passenger hallways and the elevator lobby.
One young man who was already on the floor and unresponsive was kicked in the head before crew and security managed to break it up.
Ship staff contacted authorities. When Costa Smeralda docked in Palermo, officers from the Maritime Border Police boarded the vessel.
They reviewed the ship’s security camera footage, pieced together the sequence of events and identified those involved.
The 13 passengers were all between 18 and 20 years old. They were charged with aggravated brawling (rissa aggravate in Italian) and referred to the Palermo prosecutor’s office.
Contrary to previous reports on this story, the 13 young men were not arrested. After being charged, they were processed and released pending further legal proceedings.
An injured passenger was taken to a local hospital and fortunately doctors found the injuries were not serious and ruled out any life-threatening conditions.
Local Facebook page PalermoinDiretta, a Palermo news and video outlet, shared footage of the fight.
Costa Smeralda is a large Excellence-class ship that carries more than 5,200 guests at double occupancy and up to about 6,500 at full capacity.
No official comment from Costa Cruises has been released so far, and we don’t know how much alcohol played a role in the incident just yet.
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