The Economist reports:
A Venezuelan naval patrol vessel fired on an unarmed Portuguese-flagged cruise ship, the RCGS Resolute, which it claimed was in its waters. Columbia Cruise Services said the holiday craft, hardened to withstand polar ice, was rammed by the Venezuelan vessel, which then sank. All 44 Venezuelan sailors were rescued. Their commanders congratulated them on their “impeccable performance”.
In their longer article (which calls this “the first decisive naval skirmish in the Caribbean for 75 years”) they note:
The Bolivarian navy insisted that its gallant sailors put in an “impeccable performance” against the unarmed cruise ship, presumably by sinking with particular panache. The navy darkly added that the Resolute, which boasts a jacuzzi and sauna, might have been carrying mercenary commandos to attack Venezuelan bases. As evidence, it pointed to nefarious inflatable boats on its deck.
Since nobody was hurt, it seems fair to see this incident as mainly comic. This thread about “a smallish cruise liner specialising in penguin-bothering, stopped to repair her engines in international waters” is also amusing.
