Ship Crashes Into Crane, Starts Fire, Chaos Ensues

Just weeks after it was announced that the Titanic would be reconstructed and sail the exact same route as the (doomed!) original voyage, another ship crash has occurred that may not reach quite the same notoriety, but is nonetheless worthy of your and James Cameron's attention.

Consider this video of the collision, which took place at a port in Barcelona on Wednesday. In it, a ferry drifts toward a crane. It nears the crane. It hits the crane. The crane tips over. And then everything is on fire. 

It's befuddling in realtime, but news reports explain the collapse of the crane sparked a fire that combined with hazardous materials in the containers -- hence the huge, unexpectedly huge flames that appear by the video's end.

A dozen firefighting vehicles and multiple ambulances reportedly responded to the scene, and the fire was extinguished within a few hours, but none of that is in the video. Just the strangely calm lead up to the crash and a lot of fire.

As for how the ship came to hit the crane, the company that owns the ferry explained that a combination of strong winds and sea currents meant the ship couldn't dock, and eventually pushed it into the crane. The 650-foot ferry had both passengers and vehicles aboard, but there were no injuries on either the ship or the dock.

If anyone has James Cameron's number, please forward him this.

h/t Digg

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James Chrisman is a News Writer at Thrillist. Send news tips to news@thrillist.com and follow him on Twitter @james_chrisman2.