Cruise ship crew pepper spray brawling passengers over feared mutiny onboard holiday vessel marooned in the Caribbean for three days in fresh coronavirus panic

Cruise ship crew pepper spray brawling passengers over feared mutiny onboard holiday vessel marooned in the Caribbean for three days in fresh coronavirus panic
Darren Boyle 29 February 2020 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8059197/Cruise-ship-crew-pepper...

The MSC Meraviglia was denied permission to dock at three Caribbean ports
Authorities feared the vessel was carrying patients with coronovirus symptoms
Some passengers started brawling in a dining room forcing the crew to react
A video emerged of the crew using pepper spray to reassert control onboard

The ship docked in Cozumel, Mexico, after it was turned away from two other ports, media reported.

The cruise liner was denied permission to dock in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and Georgetown, the Cayman Islands, on Tuesday, February 25.

MSC Cruises said Friday morning that the MSC Meraviglia vessel was given a clean bill of health by Mexican health officials. Medical checks were administered on a crew member and a female guest whom local Caribbean authorities feared were sick with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, reports said. The two reportedly had the flu.

The company said the measures by Jamaica and Grand Cayman were 'born out of fear, not best medical practice,' and caused 'unnecessary and unjustifiable anxiety'.
The MSC Meraviglia, pictured had been denied permission to dock in three Caribbean ports before arriving at the island of Cozumel, off the Mexican coast. Eventually passengers were allowed to disembark after Mexican officials found no evidence of coronovirus on board
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The MSC Meraviglia, pictured had been denied permission to dock in three Caribbean ports before arriving at the island of Cozumel, off the Mexican coast. Eventually passengers were allowed to disembark after Mexican officials found no evidence of coronovirus on board

MSC Cruises added that the 4,580 guests onboard will 'receive a 100 percent refund of their cruise fare due to the disruptive nature of their vacation'.

MSC Meraviglia passenger Blanca Haddad captured the videos. She told Storyful tensions were high aboard the vessel.

'People were getting hyped. We were locked in a ship and couldn't get off in the ports of Jamaica or Grand Cayman,' Haddad said.

'People were becoming frustrated and began fighting with crew members. To stop the fight they sprayed us with pepper spray.'

Haddad said the passengers and crew were allowed out in Mexico because testing came out negative for the two guests on board who were thought to be carrying the virus.

A spokesman for MSC Cruises said: 'Security officers were called in response to two male passengers who became aggressive and violent towards musicians during evening entertainment held on the ship.

'The two passengers, who appeared intoxicated, acted in a physically violent way towards the entertainers during their performance and our security officers were called to contain the situation and restrain them both.

'The crowds at the party were thoroughly enjoying themselves, after what has been a challenging cruise with poor decisions by two ports to not allow our passengers to disembark because of two passengers in quarantine with common flu.

'We sincerely apologise to our passengers who were impacted by the disruptive behaviour of those individuals and thank them for their understanding this week.'