'People went flying': Australian tourist relives the terrifying moment a massive cruise ship slammed into a Venice wharf injuring four people
- Gold Coast man Robert Lauretti was on board the MSC Opera when it crashed
- The cruise liner hit a tourist riverboat and a pier in Venice early on Sunday
- Four tourists, including an Australian woman, suffered injuries trying to get away
- Mr Lauretti said he watched helplessly from the ship as chaos unfolded
An Australian man says he watched people go flying after an out-of-control cruise ship rammed a wharf and another ferry in the Italian city of Venice.
Robert Lauretti was enjoying breakfast with friends on the balcony of the MSC Opera when the towering ship smashed into the dock while it tried to berth on the Giudecca Canal on Sunday.
Four tourists, including an Australian woman, suffered minor injuries. It's unclear where they were located or what injuries they suffered.
Video footage captured the moment when people on the dock realised the hulking vessel was not going to stop and ran away.
Tourist boat The River Countess was left badly damaged after the MSC Opera cruise liner smashed into it on Sunday morning
Australian Robert Lauretti (right) was on board the cruise liner when it crashed. He said people were running everywhere, including one woman who flipped as the ship made contact with the pier and a man who is thought to have dived off the tourist boat into the ship
Mr Lauretti has told of watching a woman and a man go flying, but did not make clear if they were on his ship, the ferry or the dock.
'There were people running everywhere, in every direction,' told the Today Show from his ship apartment. (The vessel is still undergoing repairs in Venice).
'The one we noticed the most, it looked like a lady... she was the last one to run down the stairs ... as the ship actually hit, she flipped.
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'I'm sure we saw a man flip into the water as the boat went past.'
Other footage taken from the scene shows the ship apparently unable to halt its momentum; blaring its horns and ploughing into the much smaller ferry as dozens of terrified spectators fled the chaotic scene.
Italian media have reported 110 passengers were on board the river boat.
In another video, terrified passengers can be heard shouting 'hold on' as the luxury cruise boat crashes into the river boat and then the pier.
Emergency teams rushed to the scene after the large cruise boat collides with a tourist river boat near the pier on Sunday
But on the cruise ship itself, the collision was barely felt.
'My friends were on the balcony with us. They were saying brace, brace,' Mr Lauretti said.
'We were bracing quite hard but oddly enough we could hardly feel the actual impact.'
Mr Lauretti said he'd decided to venture out onto his balcony to watch the ship berth.
'The closer it got the more we started to freak out, regarding the fact that it wasn't turning.
'There was not much we could do. We had the best seat in the house for it, I can tell you that.'
Pictured: The damaged harbor quay after the MSC Opera cruise ship collided with a tourist boat in Venice in the early hours of Sunday
Pictured: The damaged harbor quay after the luxury cruise boat collided with the pier and a small tourist boat in Venice on Sunday
He said it was very lucky that the cruise ship went between the dock and the smaller vessel, with the only visual damage to the cruise ship being some scrapes along its side.
But Mr Lauretti said he'd been told one of the ship's anchors has also been torn off during frantic efforts to stop the 2679-passenger vessel.
The cruise ship's owner, MSC Cruises, has said the ship suffered a mechanical problem, and there are reports a steel cable connected to a tugboat snapped.
Mr Lauretti had only been on the ship for about 24 hours when the accident happened but says he'll stay on board.
'I hope the next port will be just slightly less of a bang getting in.'
San Basilio dock in Venice after the MSC Opera cruise ship crashed into it, leaving four tourists injured in the early hours on Sunday
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