Glossop couple among those in Mallorca cruise crash

A Glossop couple were among thousands of British holidaymakers involved in a cruise crash off the coast of Mallorca, Spain.

Mark Beckwith and his fiancé, Gayle Dawkes, were onboard the P&O Cruises ship when it broke free of its moorings and collided with another vessel during a storm on Sunday morning (August 27).

Britannia set sail on Friday 18 August with five stops planned in the Mediterranean, however the incident occurred as it was docked at its fourth location.

Mark recalled that many passengers had already ventured out on day trips or excursions as he stood on his balcony talking to his mother-in-law, Irene Dawkes, as they got ready for the day they had planned, exploring Palma.

"We'd been warned that there were storms incoming a couple of days before," He said, "But it was like a cyclone or a tornado. It just hit right in front of us - you couldn't really see it but you knew what it was."

Gayle, a senior HR executive, was in the laundrette when the storm began. A practice drill had already been carried out with crew members and local fire services that morning but she was unaware of what was happening until her husband ran to find her.

As the couple walked back to their cabin, they describe feeling 'anxious and frightened' as people were 'running around screaming and crying', as shouts of 'we're going to hit another ship' echoed across the decks.

Mark continued: "It was scary, just the shock of it I think. It all happened within a minute so there wasn't really enough time to react. As soon as everyone realised we were heading towards another boat, that's when the panic set in and the atmosphere really changed - it was chaos at points."

The pair, who were enjoying their third time aboard Britannia, described roofs getting 'ripped off' and said that the cruise blew approximately 500 metres across the port, which was when they 'landed onto' the oil tanker.

"It was the other vessel that held us in the harbour," Mark said, "If it wasn't for that ship then we'd have blown out to sea - which is a weird thought because I don't know what would have happened then."

The aftermath of the cruise hall

Following the collision, the captain put out an alert for all passengers to return to their cabins immediately and the crew were called to the emergency mooring stations.

Tug boats were used to remove the ship from the other vessel and then rescue teams began attempting to tow the cruise back to its original mooring, however due to the strength of the winds this was unable to be carried out and they were anchored further out to sea until the storm passed.

Once Britannia was safely anchored outside of the harbour, another announcement was issued thanking passengers for their co-operation and allowing them out of their cabins.

Mark highlighted that the actions of the staff onboard were 'absolutely fantastic'. He said it was reassuring to see the crew and captain remaining so calm amidst the chaos.

"They were so informative, keeping us up to date on everything that was happening, and it almost feels as though everything has gone back to normal now in the aftermath of things. Everybody on board was gifted £40 of onboard spends too, the team really have been great with us - what happened definitely hasn't put us off, it's still been a great time overall."

Passengers are expected back in the UK at 6am this Friday (September 1), after heading up the coast of Portugal this morning towards Lisbon.