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By Lottie McGrath
News Reporter
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A cruise ship was playing the Titanic theme when it suddenly listed, passengers have said.
The Explorer of the Seas was near Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands off the African coast, when it was rocked by an "unexpected wind gust," Royal Caribbean Cruises has said. The wind made the ship tilt at a 45-degree angle, causing superficial damage and requiring the ship to dock so a passenger could seek medical assistance.
Footage of the incident shows furniture sliding across the deck and passengers running and screaming.
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At the moment the wind gust hit, Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"—famed as the theme song from the movie *Titanic—*was playing on the ship.
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One passenger told the Local 10 news outlet he thought the music was part of a special effect to accompany the tilting. Videos can be seen here and here.
Newsweek has emailed Royal Caribbean Cruises' press office for comment.
Another passenger, Dan So, told Kennedy News and Media, that when the boat listed "it was like the Titanic."
Fearing for his life, 41-year-old So texted his colleagues to say he didn't know what was happening.
"I was writing my last message, thinking that I would die," he said.
"Usually waves make the ship wobbly but this was tilting for five minutes on one side. It held its position for around three minutes," said So.
Following the incident which occurred on November 7, the Explorer—which was sailing from Barcelona, Spain, to Miami, Florida—made a stop at Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands so an injured passenger could receive medical assistance on land.
Passengers were also told to return to their rooms while staff undertook accountability tests.
After being delayed in Spain for a few days because of the storm, the Explorer of the Seas docked in Miami on November 17. Upon docking, passengers told local news outlets their experiences of the turbulent moment when the wind gust hit the ship.
"Out of nowhere we start noticing it's [the ship] rocking and I see water sliding off the table and that's when you see a whole bunch of plates going flying off, my food goes flying, chairs go flying, everyone's panicking, ice machine flies everywhere. It was just a crazy experience overall," passenger Alvero Pupo told 7News Miami.
Another passenger, Sofie Dubois, described "chaos" as plates began tumbling off tables and people rushed out of the ship's dining room.
Passengers commended how the ship's crew and the captain handled the situation.
"He kept us posted on weather and all kind of details so you felt secure," Dubois told 7News Miami.
The Explorer of the Seas is a 1,020-foot vessel with a maximum capacity of 4,290 passengers. It has a total of 15 decks, has 1,185 crew members and boasts an ice rink, mini golf course and climbing wall.
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