A luxury cruise liner has been detained in Belfast today after Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) inspectors found it to be in breach of safety code.
Fire doors on the Italian-flagged Vistamar ship were found to be missing, broken, or with latches missing.
PA systems and emergency lights for life rafts were found to be not working, and the ship did not meet ISM maintenance requirements, according to inspectors.
The passenger vessel had been en route from Invergordon when it docked in Belfast and surveyors boarded the vessel to perform an inspection.
Bill Bennett, surveyor in charge from the MCA’s Belfast Marine Office said: “The MCA take passenger safety extremely seriously, and we will not allow vessels to traverse our waters where clearly international standards of safety are being breached”.
