Mass brawl on P&O cruise, six injured
Police are investigating a mass brawl which broke out as P&O’s Britannia sailed back to Southampton after a seven-night cruise to the Norwegian fjords.
On arriving in port, a man, 43, and woman, 41, from Chigwell, Essex, were arrested on suspicion of assault and have since been released from custody but remain under investigation.
Six people were hurt in the fight in the early hours of Friday, where plates and furniture were reportedly used as weapons and other passengers were forced to hide in fear.
Some reports claimed the fight broke out after someone dressed as a clown joined a party, but the cruise line insisted there was nobody dressed as a clown on board.
Good Morning Britain journalist Richard Gaisford was on the ship and said the trouble started after a black-tie evening and an afternoon of ‘patriotic partying on deck, with large amounts of alcohol being consumed by many guests’.
He said he became aware of trouble when officers made an emergency announcement at 2am for security staff to rush to the 16th-floor restaurant.
"There was blood everywhere," he tweeted.
"The buffet area was immediately sealed off as medical teams went to help the injured. Staff told me they’d never experienced anything like it and those behind the violence were confined to a cabin for the last day of the cruise, waiting for police here in Southampton."
A Hampshire police spokeswoman said three men and three women were assaulted, with their injuries including significant bruising and cuts.
A P&O Cruises spokesman said: "Following an incident on board Britannia on Thursday evening we can confirm that all guests disembarked yesterday and the matter is now in the hands of the local police."
The cruise line said it does not tolerate disruptive behaviour.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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