Huge ships slam into each other in eye-popping head-on crash caught on camera along a Canadian canal
- The collision was in the Welland Canal between the Alanis and the Florence Spirit
- Welland Canal connects two great lakes – Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in Canada
- The moment the two ships collided was captured on video by a by-stander
Two huge ships were shown slamming into each other in shocking new footage of a brutal head-on collision captured on Saturday.
Disaster struck as the two vessels approached each other in the Welland Canal, a key 26-mile shipping route that connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in Canada.
In the video, the Alanis and the Florence Spirit can be seen on a collision course before they crash in a cacophony of twisted metal.
In an agonizing build up, the boats are clearly on a collision course as they approach from opposite directions down the canal.
An alarm can be heard as they get closer and closer, but nothing can be done, and a deafening crashing is heard and they hit one-another head-on.
Disaster struck as the two vessels approached each other in the Welland Canal (pictured above) but were unable to maneuver around one-another
The Florence Spirit, the black boat and smaller of the two, scrapes down the side of the larger Alanis, before the two come to a halt and slowly drift towards the bank of the canal where the video is being recorded from.
Eye-witness Alex Stewart, 19, thought the cargo ships would pass safely at first, but then he heard the Alanis sound the alarm.
‘We didn’t think they were gonna crash but as soon as the red ship set off the panic alarm, we knew something was gonna happen,’ he said. ‘My thinking was like “oh c**p, are they actually gonna hit?'”
Incredibly, nobody was hurt in the crash.
Moment before the crash: The Florence Spirit (right) and the Alanis (left) seconds before the collision that sent both careering towards the banks of the canal
The cause of the crash remains a mystery, with canal bosses saying that navigation conditions on the canal were normal at the time of the crash on Saturday.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is now investigating the collision. ‘It’s too early to tell what happened,’ manager Line Laroche told local media.
‘We will look at all of the data and do a deep investigation. Our mandate is not to find fault.’
Photos from the aftermath of the crash show the Florence Spirit crashed into the bank of the canal with a huge chunk of its bow ripped away.
The Alanis had a large gash at the front of the boat where the Florence Spirit had crashed into it. Above, workers at the front of the vessel inspect the damage
The Florence Spirit had a huge chunk of its bow missing where it had collided with the Alanis
Meanwhile the Alanis can be seen with a big black scar along its starboard side.
‘After the impact the red one went down the canal to a dock and has remained there,’ said Mr Stewart. ‘The black one went to an old dock that hasn’t been used in years to repair the damage.’
The Florence Spirit was shipping coal destined for Quebec City, while the Alanis was carrying wind turbine components to Duluth, Minnesota.