The occupants of a small rubber boat were lucky to survive after a Celebrity Cruises ship was forced to alter the course to avoid crushing the small vessel in Tauranga Harbour.
In the footage, the liner Celebrity Solstice can be seen narrowly missing the boat before two other vessels rush to the rescue to tow it to safety. The cruise ship came within 5 meters of the boat (disabled at the time of the incident) but somehow managed to avoid impact. The incident occurred at the harbour entrance on the evening of December 14, 2018.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council released the footage along with a warning that boaters must keep 50 m (165 ft) from ships on each side and 500 m (1640 ft) ahead.
For other Celebrity Solstice accidents and incidents see at the ship's CruiseMinus page.