The company Columbian Cruise Services guaranteed that the Portuguese flag cruise “Resolute” was “the object of an act of aggression” by a Venezuelan Navy vessel in international waters, while maintaining an engine.
“In the early morning hours of March 30, 2020, the cruise ship RCGS RESOLUTE was the object of an act of aggression by the Venezuelan Navy in international waters, approximately 13.3 nautical miles from the island of La Tortuga, with 32 crew members. and without passengers on board ”, explained in the statement released on Wednesday by the company that operates the vessel.
According to the company, at the time of the incident the cruise “had already been adrift for a day, on the coast of that island, to carry out a routine maintenance of an engine”, traveling to Willemstad, Curaçau.
“While maintenance was being carried out on the starboard main engine, the port port main engine was kept on hold to maintain a safe distance from the island”, he explains.
Columbian Cruise Services (CCS) also said that “just after midnight” on Monday (5 am on Tuesday in Lisbon), “the cruise was approached by a Venezuelan Navy ship that radio questioned the intentions ”of his presence“ and gave the order to accompany him ”to Porto Moreno, on the Venezuelan island of Margarita.
“As the RCGS RESOLUTE sailed in international waters, the captain wanted to reconfirm this specific request, which resulted in a serious deviation from the programmed route of the ship, with the company DPA”, he says.
While “the captain was contacting the head offices, pistol shots were fired” and the Venezuelan navy boat “approached the starboard side at a speed of 135 ° and deliberately collided” with the cruise.
“The Navy vessel continued to strike the starboard bow, in an apparent attempt to turn the head of the cruise towards the territorial waters of Venezuela”, it is added in the same note.
According to CCS, although the cruise “suffered minor damages, which did not affect its navigability, the Navy vessel suffered serious damages, when making contact with the bulbous bow reinforced for the ice” of the RCGS RESOLUTE – cruise that makes expeditions for the ice -, “and water started to come in”.
The cruise was ready to support, staying more than an hour in the vicinity of the site “and contacted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) of Curaçau, an international body that supervises all maritime emergencies”, he guaranteed.
“All attempts to contact people on board the Navy vessel have not been answered,” the statement said.
The company also said that it only resumed navigation after receiving instructions “from the MRCC to continue and that additional assistance was not necessary”.
The Venezuelan Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that a Venezuelan Navy ship was shipwrecked on Monday after a collision with the Portuguese flag cruise “Resolute”, north of the island of La Tortuga, located 181 kilometers northeast of Caracas.
According to the Venezuelan Ministry of Defense, at 12:45 am on Monday (5:45 am in Lisbon), the Coast Guard speedboat “Naiguatá GC-23” performed “maritime patrol tasks” in the Venezuelan territorial sea, when “it was hit by the passenger ship ‘Resolute’ (122 meters long and 8,300 tons of displacement), Portuguese flag ”.
The collision occurred when the Navy vessel “was carrying out a maritime traffic control procedure, which caused great damage” to the Venezuelan Coast Guard boat, explained in the statement.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela reported the incident to the Lisbon embassy in Caracas, through a verbal note.
“We will respond as soon as possible to Venezuela’s verbal note. This incident, whatever its nature, is an incident that should not disturb State to State relations between Venezuela and Portugal, let alone a private ship and an isolated incident whose responsibilities can and should be determined, ”said Augusto Santos Silva.
On Tuesday, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, accused the Portuguese flag cruise “Resolute” of having carried out an act of “terrorism and piracy” against the Venezuelan Navy ship.
Nicolás Maduro urged the authorities of Curaçau, a Dutch territory, where the ship is currently anchored, to investigate this “act of international piracy”.
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