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Superyacht crash video shows 77m Go colliding with Caribbean dock

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Footage has emerged of a 235ft superyacht crashing into a luxury Caribbean yacht club’s pier, causing visible damage to both the yacht and the dock.

Onlookers were shocked last week (February 24) when a 235ft (77m) superyacht collided with the dock of Sint Maarten Yacht Club in the Caribbean.

Video footage of the incident shows the extent of the damage – while the pier took the brunt of it, the superyacht’s steel hull didn’t come off unscathed.

Computer malfunction was to blame for the sickening superyacht crash, according to local publication The Daily Herald , which adds that no-one was injured as a result.

Article continues below…

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Video: burning superyacht filmed in us virgin islands.

Footage has emerged of a burning superyacht that caught fire on Tuesday in the US Virgin Islands

The incident took place at around 1015 local time and the newspaper added that an insurer had already been to assess the extent of the damage by the end of the day.

If you think you’re having a bad day at work, spare a thought for the captain and crew who had to explain this situation to their yacht’s owner.

Launched by Turkish yard Turquoise Yachts in 2018, Go features a helipad, gym, jacuzzi, beach club, sauna and hospital as well as a master suite and eight guest cabins styled by London-based studio H2 Yacht Design.

She is run by a crew of up to 18 and her twin 2,575hp Caterpillar 3516C engines give her an estimated top speed of 17 knots.

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By SuperyachtNews 12 Aug 2019

Captain of 'Moatize' explains cause of Cairns marina crash

The 46m motoryacht crashed into a wharf in cairns after suffering from a technical fault….

Footage has emerged of the moment the 46m motoryacht Moatize crashed into a wharf in Cairns Marlin Marina after suffering from a technical fault. The captain and crew were able to respond to the situation in an appropriate manner and fortunately no one was hurt.

The incident occurred when the yacht was docking at the Cairns marina at around 6pm on Saturday night. The vessel only suffered cosmetic damage but collided with the pier very close to waterfront diners and, as a result, part of the marina and a nearby restaurant have closed while the site is restored.

Following the incident, local press interviewed  Moatize ’s captain about the cause of the crash and his response. “We came [into the marina] and did a tight turn… and our starboard gear was stuck ahead when I selected the go astern,” he told local news outlet The Daily Telegraph .

“We used the bow thruster to come over into a clear vision, went astern to exit the marina, but it was still going ahead at all times. We took control in the wheelhouse to try and see if it was a technical fault on the controls, but it was still going ahead again. So, we did what we’re trained to in collisions: we shut down all engines, dropped an anchor and thank God we selected a nice spot where there were no personnel.”

Regarding the damage caused to the boat and the affected infrastructure, he added; “I am not even worried about the money and neither is the owner. We are just making sure that everyone here is still functioning, that no one is put out, and there is no injury – that’s our only concern.”

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Dramatic Moment As 43 Metre Superyacht Crashes In The Caribbean

Not so super...

When you own a superyacht, you’d think you’d learn to park it carefully. But apparently, that’s either not the case, or parking one of these magnificent vessels is not as easy as you think. This revelation comes as a bridge in the Caribbean continues to catch superyachts out, with yet another crashing into it.

A video bouncing around online shows the 43.4 metre superyacht Royal Denship Baca coming a cropper, crashing into the bridge entrance at Simpson Bay, on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten. The incident occurred on January 8, 2023.

The video shows the yacht love scratching the bridge on its right hand side. The collision caused damage to the control booth. No one on the bridge or the shore was hurt. The video shows the crew continuing to work on the yacht after the crash so it appears the incident did not cause much human suffering (only paintwork and emotional cringe).

WATCH: 43 metre superyacht crashes in the Caribbean

BOAT International reports that windy weather conditions might have played a role in the not-so-pristine park, adding that “this is not the first time a yacht has collided with the bridge at Simpson Bay.” The outlet explained that “in 2019, the 86m superyacht Ecstasea suffered a similar incident.”

According to Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority (SLAC), the booth enjoyed “severe structural damage” and damaged wires leading to the operations consoles after the incident. The hit happened at 5pm local time and the bridge was back in business by early the next morning. 

RELATED: Fire At Superyacht Shipyard A Millionaire’s Worst Nightmare

Superyacht Times reports that Baca  was delivered in 2008 and has been regularly maintained over the years, boasting 498 GT, five staterooms and accommodation for 12 guests. The outlet also reports that Baca can host eight crew and has twin  Caterpillar  engines which allow it to cruise at 12.5 knots and reach speeds of 14 knots.

The last few years have not been kind to superyachts, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine leading to lots of seized vessels around the world. Lots of expensive hunks and hulls have also mysteriously gone up in flames in recent years too.

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Caught on camera: multi-million dollar superyacht crashes into cairns marina.

Superyacht Crash

Part of the Cairns marina remains closed after a super yacht crashed on Saturday evening, narrowly avoiding waterfront diners who were forced to flee in panic.

The 46-metre luxury vessel lost control as it came into dock, with a mechanical mishap causing one of its engines to lock on full speed.

Watch the full story in the clip above

Incredible video of the incident has emerged, showing shocked bystanders screaming at those in the out-of-control boat’s path to get out of the way.

The vessel charged into the port heading straight for the Prawn Star Cairns floating trawler restaurant, sending diners rushing out of their seats.

Despite the close call, amazingly no-one was injured.

Stream free on

Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow wounds one, shuts airport

Russian officials and media say ‘attempted terrorist attack’ on the capital city wounded one person, damaged two buildings and briefly suspended traffic at the Vnukovo airport.

Russian forces have intercepted three Ukrainian drones over Moscow, in an attack that wounded one person, damaged two office blocks and briefly forced the closure of an airport in the city.

The Russian defence ministry blamed the assault early on Sunday on Kyiv, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – without commenting on the drone attacks – warned that “war was coming to the territory of Russia”.

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In a message on Telegram, the defence ministry said: “The Kyiv regime’s attempted terrorist attack with unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the city of Moscow was thwarted”.

It said one of the drones was shot down, while two, “suppressed by electronic warfare”, crashed into a building complex in Moscow’s business district.

Photos from the site of the crash showed the facade of a skyscraper damaged on one floor. The capital’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the attack “insignificantly damaged” the outsides of two buildings in the Moscow City district.

A security guard was wounded, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported, citing emergency officials.

No flights went into or out of the Vnukovo airport on the southern outskirts of the city for about an hour, according to TASS, and the air space over Moscow and the outlying regions was temporarily closed for any aircraft.

Those restrictions have since been lifted.

Authorities also briefly closed a street for traffic near the site of the crash in the Moscow City area.

President Vladimir Putin, who was in his hometown of Saint Petersburg at the time of the attempted attacks for meetings with African leaders and a naval celebration, was briefed, his spokesman said.

Separately, the Russian defence ministry said it had also successfully thwarted an overnight attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, by 25 Ukrainian drones that Moscow said it had either shot down or forced to crash. Nobody had been hurt and no damage was caused in the Crimea, it added.

Ukrainian officials did not acknowledge the attacks but Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address: “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.”

“Ukraine is getting stronger,” he added.

A Ukrainian air force spokesman also did not claim responsibility but said the Russian people were seeing the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“All of the people who think the war ‘doesn’t concern them’ – it’s already touching them,” spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told journalists.

“There’s already a certain mood in Russia: that something is flying in, and loudly,” he said. “There’s no discussion of peace or calm in the Russian interior any more. They got what they wanted.”

The attack was the fourth such attempt at a strike on Moscow this month and the third this week, heightening concerns about the capital’s vulnerability to attacks as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month.

It also comes several weeks into a Ukrainian counteroffensive to take back territory of the country captured by Russia since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Russia’s foreign ministry has said such attacks “would not be possible without the help provided to the Kyiv regime by the United States and its NATO allies”.

On the other side of the border, Ukrainian authorities said at least two civilians were killed and five others wounded in a Russian missile attack on the northeastern city of Sumy.

“On the evening of July 29, an enemy missile hit an educational institution. Law enforcement officers are working at the scene, recording the effects,” the national police forces said on Telegram.

According to public broadcaster Suspilne, the building was destroyed in an explosion at about 8:00pm local time (17:00 GMT).

Report: War-Zone GPS Spoofing Is Threatening Civil Aviation

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War-Zone GPS Spoofing Is Threatening Civil Aviation

A surge in spoofing from the middle east to northern europe is throwing onboard navigation systems off course..

• Science and Technology
• Middle East and North Africa
• Amy Mackinnon

Russia’s War in Ukraine

Understanding the conflict two years on .

More on this topic

Commercial aircraft flying in the Middle East and northern Europe have been caught up in a spate of GPS spoofing incidents, which have thrown onboard navigation systems off course and pose an increasing risk to air travel the world over, according to international aviation bodies and experts.

In late August of last year, pilots operating in the Middle East began to report instances of their onboard navigation systems being overtaken by fake GPS signals, sometimes showing them to be hundreds of miles off course. This resulted in a “complete loss of navigational capability,” which in some instances forced crews to rely on verbal directions from air traffic controllers, according to OpsGroup , a membership organization for pilots and flight dispatchers. Aircraft of all sizes have been affected, including small business jets and large Boeing 777s.

The first reported incidents took place in a strip of Iraqi airspace close to the country’s border with Iran that is commonly used by flights traveling between Europe and the Gulf states. The pilot of a business jet traveling to Dubai reported that the plane almost flew into Iranian airspace, without authorization, due to the loss of its navigation system, according to OpsGroup.

“It’s not an idle problem. This could lead to real international incidents,” said Todd Humphreys, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

The jamming of GPS signals is a relatively common phenomenon, particularly around war zones and sensitive military sites, where the practice is used to deflect potential drone or missile strikes. Pilots are alert to regional hot spots where such instances might occur and are able to fall back on other onboard navigation aids.

In spoofing incidents, however, false signals are broadcast that cause an aircraft’s electronic equipment to calculate incorrect positions and provide erroneous guidance—essentially tricking the aircraft’s GPS receiver into thinking it is somewhere it is not.

Experts say spoofing is potentially more dangerous than jamming, as pilots may not even initially be aware of what is going on, and false signals can “infect” the plane’s inertial reference system (IRS)—its navigational nerve center.

“Since August 2023, a new variety of GPS spoofing is being reported by crews, where the signal is sufficiently strong and of sufficient integrity to feed the aircraft systems,” according to a discussion paper from a February meeting of the Middle East office of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency. “The result is that within minutes, the IRS becomes unusable, and in many cases, all navigation capability on board is lost,” the document said.

Using data from a low-earth-orbit satellite network, Humphreys and his graduate student, Zach Clements, traced the signals responsible for the initial rash of spoofing reports close to a location in the Iranian capital, Tehran. They were unable to pinpoint who or what was responsible for the false signals.

Reports of spoofing skyrocketed across the region after the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, in what experts say is a likely effort by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to thwart a missile attack by the Iran-backed militia group Hezbollah. On Oct. 15, the IDF acknowledged that GPS signals along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, would be restricted but made no reference to spoofing.

“You know it’s gone mainstream not when the Russians are practicing it, or the Iranians, or the Chinese, but when allies of the United States are practicing it,” Humphreys said.

A spokesperson for the IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Countries in northern Europe have also seen a flurry of disruptions to GPS signals since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including a surge in spoofing reports beginning in late December of last year.

The website GPSJam.org, which uses publicly available flight data to pinpoint areas of likely GPS disruption around the world, showed an increase in disruption to GPS signals across the Baltic States and northern Europe starting around Dec. 25.

“These interference[s] have been quite constant since 2022, but the most intense disturbances have been observed since the end of 2023,” Latvia’s Electronic Communications Office, a government body, said in a statement to Foreign Policy. “Although several independent systems are used in the aviation industry for aircraft navigation, the disruption of the GNSS [Global Navigation Satellite System] system definitely worsens the level of aviation safety,” the agency said, using the catch-all term to describe satellite navigation systems, which includes GPS.

As in the Middle East, the disruption to GPS signals in Europe appears to be a spillover effect from nearby war zones. “Most cases are tied in with military base security in Russia. They are jamming the frequencies probably to avoid UAV attacks,” Col. Ants Kiviselg, the head of Estonian military intelligence, said in an interview with Foreign Policy last week. Russia has faced drone attacks from Ukraine since the war began, including on Moscow.

While the Russian Armed Forces is generally regarded as less technologically savvy than its Western counterparts, intelligence officials and experts note that Moscow punches above its weight when it comes to electronic warfare. Gen. Martin Herem, commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, suggested in an interview with Bloomberg that Russia may be testing its jamming capabilities in anticipation of a future war with NATO.

A spokesperson for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) acknowledged that there had been an increase in reports of spoofing incidents around the Baltic Sea region starting in December but said that the agency had no evidence that a foreign government was responsible for the disruption. “We do not have any proof of state involvement and also have no indication that civil aviation is targeted,” they said.  

GPS, which stands for global positioning system, is owned by the U.S. government and serves as the backbone for many of the world’s navigation systems, telecommunications, and financial transactions. Radio signals emitted by a network of GPS satellites can be used for precision navigation and timing, but they are also weak and easily overpowered—a problem that the U.S. government has long acknowledged.

A report released by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2001, as GPS use was becoming more widespread in transportation infrastructure, cautioned that it could become a “tempting target that could be exploited by individuals, groups or countries hostile to the United States” and acknowledged the risk of both jamming and spoofing. One of U.S. President Joe Biden’s senior advisors on resilience and crisis response described GPS as a “single point of failure” in the nation’s infrastructure at a meeting of the president’s National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board in December 2021.

“It’s this huge vulnerability and threat that is out there and not officially recognized, and little is being done,” said Dana Goward, president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for more secure GPS systems.

Spoofing technology, once the preserve of highly skilled engineers, is becoming more widely accessible.  

Humphreys developed the world’s first openly acknowledged spoofer as a Ph.D. student at Cornell University in 2008, and he later used the device to throw an $80 million private yacht off course during a controlled experiment in the Mediterranean Sea.

“The device that I built in 2008 took a lot of sophistication—I was just finishing my Ph.D., I was an expert in GPS, I was an expert in software-defined radio—and it took me a year to build it,” he said. “By now, spoofing is such that somebody with a $1,000 budget and access to the web can buy the right box and download some software and get a spoofer up and running.”

As GPS jammers have become more widespread, so too has the potential for disruption to travel. Drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike using illegal GPS jammers to prevent their employers from tracking their whereabouts have been known to disrupt signals at the nearby Newark Liberty International Airport.

In 2022, GPS interference in the area of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport caused significant flight delays and one runway to close. Despite extensive efforts, the Federal Aviation Administration was unable to locate the source of the interference. A spokesperson for the agency said that they found no evidence that disruption was intentional and that they continue to look into the source of the interference.

In late January, the EASA partnered with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an airline trade association, to host a joint workshop to discuss ways to combat jamming and spoofing of navigation signals.

“GNSS systems offer tremendous advantages to aviation in increasing the safety of operations in a busy shared airspace,” said EASA acting Executive Director Luc Tytgat in a statement issued after the closed-door meeting. “But we have seen a sharp rise in attacks on these systems, which poses a safety risk. EASA is tackling the risk specific to these new technologies. We immediately need to ensure that pilots and crews can identify the risks and know how to react and land safely.”

Stuart Fox, director of flight and technical operations at the IATA, said that raising awareness about potential hot spots of GPS interference is key in helping pilots navigate the situation. “At the moment, we notice there is a lot of interest in this. All of the airlines are talking about it; they’re educating their pilots. That’s good,” he said.

For now, experts say that the risks of GPS spoofing causing an aircraft to crash are relatively low. Awareness of the problem is widespread among pilots and airlines, enabling them to take remedial action such as shutting off their GPS entirely when moving into known hot spots and relying on other methods of navigation.

Aircraft systems are designed to be fail-safe, and there would have to be a confluence of events for a plane to crash as a result of spoofing or a loss of GPS signal, Goward said. But there are other risks that could also have geopolitical implications. “One of the most likely scenarios is that some airplane gets spoofed and accidentally flies into Iran and gets shot down because they’re in Iranian airspace,” he said.

For now, Humphreys said, aviation is experiencing the secondary effects of GPS jamming and spoofing around war zones primarily intended to deter drones and munitions. “All of what we’re seeing so far is kind of collateral damage. But if the aircraft themselves are the target in the future, because Russia or Iran wants to create chaos in the air transportation systems of Europe, they could do so in a way that could really hurt the economy,” he said. “That’s probably what concerns me the most about our dependence on GPS.”

Amy Mackinnon is a national security and intelligence reporter at Foreign Policy . Twitter:  @ak_mack

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Travel | Travel: Alaska is ready for another…

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Travel | travel: alaska is ready for another record-breaking cruise season.

Alaska is home to more than 30,000 grizzlies, but the state’s cruise industry is experiencing anything but a bear market as momentum of last year’s record-breaking season is expected to continue in 2024.

Looking at the most-visited Alaskan port as a proxy for the ship-shape southeastern side of the state, Juneau set a new mark a year ago with 1.65 million passengers descending on the capital city during cruise season, which generally runs from early April to late October. That figure from the Juneau Chamber of Commerce is a Danali-sized jump of 30% compared to the previous mark set in pre-pandemic 2019.

Coinciding with Alaska’s 65th anniversary of statehood, the upcoming cruise season appears to be just as robust with 19 cruise lines sending 43 ships to the Last Frontier. Kicking things off for the second straight year is the 4,008-passenger Norwegian Bliss, which is scheduled to dock in rustic Skagway on April 8. With four mainstream-category ships homeported in either Seattle or Vancouver, Norwegian Cruise Line ( ncl.com ) has nearly 100 more after that. Impressive, but two competing companies have staked out larger claims in this modern-day, maritime Alaskan gold rush; Holland America Line ( hollandamerica.com ) is sending seven premium-class ships for 141 total cruises, and at the top of the totem pole is Princess Cruises ( princess.com ), which is celebrating its 55th year in these waters with seven premium ships sharing 158 departures.

Not counting grand voyages with itineraries so rich that they make a visit to Alaska seem more like a pitstop, this cruise season will see more than 800 trips of mostly seven to 10 days starting or ending on this side of the Pacific. Where they’re all going is a destination rich in unparallel wilderness, wildlife and native culture. In other words, bucket list stuff.

“Alaska is one of those places that draws you in and sets the hook right away,” said Kristi Switzer, destination marketing manager for Travel Juneau ( traveljuneau.com ). “Visitors come for the otherworldly experience of being in the presence of glaciers and fjords, seeing whales and bears, and finding the balance of Alaska Native cultural heritage with the rustic sophistication found in the capital city and other places within this magnificent state.”

Although Switzer recommends visits lasting several days instead of several hours, the city’s destination evangelist hopes that a partial day in Juneau and each major Alaskan cruise port has over 1.5 million passengers wanting more.

“This magical corner of the world has so much to offer beyond being a checkmark on people’s bucket lists,” she said. “Make time to enjoy the fascinating culture, spectacular outdoor recreation, unique shopping, amazing restaurants and artist galleries that Juneau and all of Southeast Alaska have to offer.”

Alaska is a checkmark for about three-quarters of all passengers headed there, according to the Alaska Tourism Industry Association, and the same can be said for two ships this season.

Starting with a six-day sail out of Vancouver on May 11, the namesake of Celebrity Cruises’ ( celebritycruises.com ) popular Edge class will make her Alaskan debut with weeklong roundtrips from Seattle through Sept. 13. The 2,918-passenger vessel features a unique “outside-in” architecture that provides more floor-to-ceiling glass on the exterior and expanded outdoor spaces to soak up the Alaskan coastlines.

Edge will be joined by a pair of fleet mates for the season, albeit Summit’s seven-day roundtrips are turnarounds out of Anchorage or Vancouver and Solstice’s weeklong jaunts are solely based in the British Columbian seaport. Celebrity, a premier-category cruise line, meaning it’s between the economical mainstream class and pricy luxury level, has 57 departures to Alaska scheduled this year.

The other new recruit is Silver Nova, the youngest Silversea Cruises ( silversea.com ) ship in the luxury fleet to ever service Alaska. Capped at 728 guests, Silver Nova was launched last year and has the goods to do justice to a dreamlike place that captures the imagination of wilderness lovers and history buffs.

“Silver Nova is the ideal ship for Alaska cruising,” said company spokesman Brad Ball. “Her innovative design, which prizes openness over symmetry and incorporates an unprecedented use of approximately 4,000 square meters of glass, immerses guests into the incredible scenery of Alaska from virtually all venues and suites, with far-reaching views at every turn.”

The ship’s reimagined pool deck, which overlooks the water on her starboard side, and all-new outdoor venues — the Dusk Bar and the Marquee — allows unique openness to view spectacular Alaskan glaciers and wildlife. Those who want to experience an older and smaller Evolution-class Silversea vessel can book the Silver Muse, which also will sail mostly seven- to 14-day trips between Anchorage and Vancouver.

Because nearly every Alaskan cruise includes the staples — Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Inside Passage, and Denali with a land add-on — some cruise lines like to shake things up with unique itineraries.

Holland America has a roundtrip that makes it easy to visit the 49th and 50th states without a long flight. A new “Glaciers & Volcanos: Alaska to Hawaii” cruise, part of the premium line’s Legendary Voyages collection of journeys from 25 to 59 days, departs on Aug. 31 from Seattle or Sept. 1 from Vancouver aboard the 1,916-passenger Westerdam. The near-four-week-long itinerary includes seldomly visited Kodiak and Dutch Harbor before heading down to the tropics to make four calls to three Hawaiian islands.

Seabourn ( seabourn.com ) strives to offer a more tasteful Alaskan cruise and not only because it’s an ultra-luxury cruise line. “Caviar on the Ice” is a savory and swanky soiree on every Alaskan voyage, and when the 450-passenger Odyssey is in Sitka, a town originally built by Russian traders in the early 1800s, Seabourn guests can enjoy a culinary adventure that includes a scenic drive to a taproom for a sampling of local brews and a few eateries to try Siberian-rooted pelmeni dumplings and a hot dog made with caribou that the locals call “reindeer dawgs.” Sorry, vegetarians and friends of Santa, but Blitzen on a bun is da bomb.

Carnival Cruise Line ( carnival.com ) is staying with a three-ship deployment in Alaska this season. Sharing the workload of 55 roundtrips generally lasting seven to 11 days are Carnival Spirit (2,610 passengers) and Carnival Luminosa (2,260) out of Seattle, and Carnival Miracle (2,667) from San Francisco. Another mainstream cruise line, Royal Caribbean ( royalcaribbean.com ), has four ships making 85 runs to Alaska from Seattle, Vancouver and Anchorage: Ovation of the Seas, (4,905) and older sister Quantum of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas (2,543) and Radiance of the Seas (2,466).

Disney Cruise Line ( disneycruise.com ) is sending its 2,700-passenger Disney Wonder out of Vancouver for 15 week-long roundtrips, one five-day spin leaving on July 24 and an extended nine-day voyage on July 15.

Other cruise lines showing passengers a whale of a time in Alaska include Crystal, Cunard, Hurtigruten, Lindblad/National Geographic, Oceania, Ponant, Regent Seven Seas and Viking.

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Feadship Superyacht Ecstasea Collides With Bridge in Sint Maarten

The 85.95 metre Feadship superyacht Ecstasea has been involved in an incident in Simpson Bay Lagoon, Sint Maarten.

Upon entering the bay on December 15, it is thought that a combination of adverse wind and current conditions caused the superyacht to veer right and collide with the control booth of the Simpson Bay Bridge. The crash was captured by bystanders and can be viewed in full below.

During the 3:00pm bridge opening, an open observation platform on the bow of  Ecstasea  tore through the structure, forcing almost all of the booth to come away and fall into the water below. Fortunately, no one was harmed during the incident as the bridge operator managed to jump out of the booth just prior to impact.

The bridge continues to remain fully functional, as the controls were not damaged during the incident. Commenting on the accident, Simpson Bay Lagoon Corporation project manager Bertrand Peters explained: “It was tricky – the vessel had some difficulties. The impact took out the booth but the controls and gear were all intact so the bridge remains fully operational and opening times will not be affected”. Visitors are therefore still being welcomed to enter the bay.

Although accidents are rare at Simpson Bay, this is not the first time a yacht has damaged the bridge while navigating the narrow passageway. Despite taking down guard railings upon entry as well as the control booth, it appears that Ecstasea , which was delivered in 2004 has sustained minimal damage to her Feadship De Voogt exterior.

Port personnel have already carried out an assessment and a report will be produced by the local coast guard and police to provide further clarity on the situation.

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Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly killed in plane crash with no survivors – as it happened

This blog is now closed. Read our main story at the link below:

• Yevgeny Prigozhin onboard plane in fatal crash, says Russia
• 24 Aug 2023 Summary
• 24 Aug 2023 Wagner building lit up like a cross
• 24 Aug 2023 Plane appeared fine on radar until last 30 seconds – Reuters
• 23 Aug 2023 Putin has not commented on the crash
• 23 Aug 2023 What is the Embraer jet's safety record?
• 23 Aug 2023 What next for the Wagner group?
• 23 Aug 2023 Embraer plane crash: What we know so far
• 23 Aug 2023 Russian aviation authority confirms Prigozhin was on crashed plane
• 23 Aug 2023 Telegram channel affiliated with Wagner group claims that Prigozhin has died
• 23 Aug 2023 Joe Biden says he's 'not surprised' by Prigozhin reports
• 23 Aug 2023 US president Joe Biden briefed about plane crash
• 23 Aug 2023 Summary
• 23 Aug 2023 Yevgeny Prigozhin listed as passenger on plane which crashed with no survivors, Russian aviation authority says
• 23 Aug 2023 Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly in plane crash
• 23 Aug 2023 Unconfirmed reports suggest private jet linked to Wagner leader crashes in Tver region
• 23 Aug 2023 Ukraine says it destroyed a Russian anti-aircraft system on Crimean peninsula
• 23 Aug 2023 Four educational workers killed and four others injured in attack on school, says Ukraine
• 23 Aug 2023 Zelenskiy vows to end Russia’s occupation of the Crimean peninsula
• 23 Aug 2023 Summary of the day so far...
• 23 Aug 2023 Two killed in Russian attack on Ukrainian school, says interior minister
• 23 Aug 2023 Vladimir Putin addresses Brics summit in South Africa
• 23 Aug 2023 Russia names new airforce chief to replace Sergei Surovikin - reports
• 23 Aug 2023 UK support for Ukraine's nuclear fuel supply will help end its reliance on Russia, says Shapps
• 23 Aug 2023 Three dead in Belgorod drone strikes, says governor
• 23 Aug 2023 Ukraine says air defences shot down 11 of 20 drones launched by Russia overnight
• 23 Aug 2023 Russia attacks grain facilities in Ukraine's Danube region
• 23 Aug 2023 Three drones downed in Moscow region, says mayor
• 23 Aug 2023 Opening summary

Russia names new airforce chief to replace Sergei Surovikin - reports

Russia has appointed a new acting head of its aerospace forces to replace Sergei Surovikin , nicknamed “General Armageddon”, the RIA state news agency reported on Wednesday.

In June, US intelligence claimed that Surovikin, who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine, had prior knowledge of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s uprising, in which Wagner group mercenaries captured the city of Rostov and moved on Moscow before cutting an amnesty deal .

Since the mutiny, some Russian and foreign news outlets have said that Surovikin was being investigated for possible complicity in it and being held under house arrest.

His reported removal suggests the authorities found fault with his behaviour, but the details of his alleged wrongdoing remain unknown.

Russian news outlet RBC and Rybar, a Telegram channel close to the ministry of defence, on Tuesday reported that Surovikin had been removed from his position as the head of Russia’s airforce, Reuters reports.

On Wednesday, RIA cited an unnamed source as saying:

Ex-chief of the Russian Air and Space Forces Sergei Surovikin has now been relieved of his post, while colonel-general Viktor Afzalov, head of the main staff of the airforce, is temporarily acting as commander-in-chief of the airforce”.

The report has not yet been independently verified. Surovikin was nicknamed “General Armageddon” for his hardline and unorthodox approach to waging war.

You can read more about Surovikin in this profile piece:

In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that, as of mid-August, Russian forces were continuing to employ pontoon bridges at Chonhar and Henichesk crossing points, on the border between southern Ukraine and occupied Crimea.

Russia seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of the country.

The MoD wrote on X:

Both permanent bridges sustained damage from Ukrainian precision strikes in early August 2023. The pontoon bridges are unlikely to be able to fully sustain the flow of heavy vehicles carrying ammunition and weaponry to the front. The resulting bottlenecks mean Russian forces are partially reliant on a long diversion via Armiansk, northern Crimea. This is adding further friction to Russia’s logistics network in the south.

UK support for Ukraine's nuclear fuel supply will help end its reliance on Russia, says Shapps

UK government support for Ukraine’s nuclear fuel supply will help end the country’s reliance on Russian supplies, the energy secretary, Grant Shapps , said after a trip to a Ukrainian power station.

The government has announced its intention to provide a £192m loan guarantee through UK Export Finance – the UK’s export credit agency – enabling UK-headquartered Urenco to supply Ukraine’s national nuclear company, Energoatom, with uranium enrichment services, which are vital for nuclear fuel.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said that, once provided, the support will bring the UK’s non-military financial assistance to Ukraine close to £5bn, PA media reports.

Ukraine has four nuclear power plants, with its largest plant, at Zaporizhzhia, currently held by Russia .

Before Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year, Ukraine had been receiving most of its nuclear services and fuel from Russia.

In Kyiv on the eve of Ukraine’s Independence Day.  From Energy Security to Defence the UK will always stand with Ukraine.  Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/oJ8edOYfGx — Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) August 23, 2023

Three dead in Belgorod drone strikes, says governor

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Tuesday that three civilians were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a sanatorium in the village of Lavy , close to the Ukrainian border.

The governor said two people had died on the spot and doctors had been unable to save the life of the third. These claims have not yet been independently verified.

Ukraine says air defences shot down 11 of 20 drones launched by Russia overnight

Ukrainian air defences shot down 11 out of 20 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks, the airforce said on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian military and local officials said Russia carried out attacks in the southern region of Odesa and in the Danube River area, which is important for grain exports, reportedly causing fires in grain facilities (see post at 06.23 ).

The military published photographs – which have not yet been independently verified -showing piles of grain under the burnt shell of a storage facility, Reuters reports.

Odesa’s governor, Oleh Kiper, said the attack on the region lasted for three hours.

“Unfortunately, there were hits to the production and transhipment complexes where a fire broke out... The damage includes grain storage facilities,” Kiper said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Danube ports accounted for around a quarter of grain exports before Russia pulled out of a UN-backed deal to provide safe passage for the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea in July.

The ports have since become the main route out, with grain also sent on barges to Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.

Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be running the blog until 3pm (UK time). Please do feel free to get in touch on Twitter if you have any story tips.

Reuters: the Netherlands will send Ukraine a thousand chargers for remote demining, Dutch defence minister Kajsa Ollongren said on a visit to Kyiv. The announcement coincides with heavily mined Russian defence lines slowing down a Ukrainian counteroffensive to recapture territory seized by Russia since its forces invaded in February 2022. “There is a decision to provide about a thousand portable chargers for remote demining that can make passageways in engineered barriers,” Ollongren was quoted as saying on the Ukrainian defence ministry website at a meeting with Ukrainian minister Oleksiy Reznikov on Tuesday. “Now, as I know, you are facing the problem of extremely dense mining of territories,” she said.

Russia attacks grain facilities in Ukraine's Danube region

Russia attacked grain facilities in Odesa and the Danube River region overnight, causing fires in grain facilities, Ukrainian military and local authorities said on Wednesday. “The enemy hit grain storage facilities and a production and transshipment complex in Danube region. A fire broke out in the warehouses and was quickly contained. Firefighters continue to work,” military said on the Telegram messaging app.

Three drones downed in Moscow region, says mayor

A drone hit a building under construction in central Moscow early on Wednesday, the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, has said, in what AFP reported was the sixth straight night of aerial attacks on Russia’s capital region.

The Russian military downed two more drones over the western part of the Moscow region, the mayor said on his Telegram channel.

A loud explosion was heard in the capital’s central district on Wednesday morning, a short while after flights were suspended at the city’s airports, Russia’s RIA news agency reported. The central district is 5km from the Kremlin.

The Russian defence ministry said that the drone had been “suppressed by electronic warfare” before losing control and colliding with the building.

“At night, air defence forces thwarted another attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack by three aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles on the city of Moscow,” the ministry said. There were no casualties, it said.

In addition to the Moscow city attack, two drones were “destroyed by air defence systems” in Moscow’s Mozhaisk and Khimki districts, it said.

Opening summary

Welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine . This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.

Our top story this morning: A drone hit a building under construction in central Moscow early on Wednesday, the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, has said, in what AFP reported was the sixth straight night of aerial attacks on Russia’s capital region.

More on this shortly. In the meantime:

Ukraine said its troops had entered the strategically important south-eastern village of Robotyne, a potentially significant advance in its counteroffensive against Russia . Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, said Ukrainian soldiers were organising the evacuation of civilians, but were still coming under fire from Russian forces .

A prominent Russian journalist said on Tuesday that Gen Sergei Surovikin, former commander of Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, had been dismissed as head of Russia’s aerospace forces. There was no official confirmation of the report by Alexei Venediktov, the well-connected former head of the now defunct Ekho Moskvy radio station, but it was cited by some other Russian news outlets on social media, Reuters reported.

Three people were killed and two were injured as a result of Russian shelling of several villages in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the prosecutor general’s office said. According to the prosecutors, all three people, two women and a man, were killed in the village of Torske on Tuesday evening. The prosecutors provided no further detail of the attack.

Russia said on Tuesday that it destroyed two Ukrainian military boats in the Black Sea. Moscow’s defence ministry said one of its Sukhoi Su-30sm jets destroyed a Ukrainian “reconnaissance boat” near Russian gas production facilities. It later said it also destroyed a US-made speedboat carrying Ukrainian troops east of Snake Island, without providing further detail. The claims were not verified.

A group of Ukrainian “saboteurs” tried to breach Russia’s border in the Bryansk region, the regional governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The claim was not verified.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Russia would remain a “responsible supplier” of food and grain to African countries and could take Ukraine’s place as an international supplier of grain, in recorded remarks to a summit of the Brics countries in South Africa. He also said said the use of US dollars in trade between Brics nations was decreasing, as the countries moved towards national currencies and away from dollars in an “irreversible process of de-dollarisation”.

The international court of justice will hear Russia’s objections to its jurisdiction in a genocide case brought by Ukraine in hearings starting in September, the body said on Tuesday. Ukraine filed a case with the ICJ shortly after Russia’s invasion began on 24 February 2022, which accused Moscow of falsely applying genocide law to justify the attack, Reuters reported.

Denmark has begun training eight Ukrainian pilots in flying F-16 fighter jets as part of its commitment to donate aircraft, the Danish armed forces said on Tuesday. Denmark and the Netherlands pledged on Sunday to donate F-16s to Ukraine.

The leaders of 11 Balkan and eastern European countries signed a joint declaration backing Ukraine’s territorial integrity at a summit in Athens on Monday. In the presence of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, they expressed their “unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders” in the face of Russia’s aggression.

Poland’s president has said Russia is in the process of shifting some short-range nuclear weapons to neighbouring Belarus. Andrzej Duda said the move would shift the security architecture of the region and the entire Nato military alliance, Associated Press reported.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said the commitment made by some European countries to donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will help to minimise Ukrainian losses and de-escalate the conflict .

A drone appears to have destroyed a supersonic Russian bomber on an airfield hundreds of kilometres from Ukraine , British military intelligence has said , the latest in a string of successful assaults on prestige infrastructure and military hardware. These attacks, far beyond the frontlines, are powerful propaganda for Ukraine, though Kyiv rarely claims them directly.

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Drone attacks in Moscow’s glittering business district leave residents on edge

People stroll at embankment of the Moscow River in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, with the “Moscow City” business district in the background. The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district were once symbols of the Russian capital’s economic boom in the early 2000s. Now they are a sign of its vulnerability, following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites shaken and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

A couple sit in a park in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, with the “Moscow City” business district in the background. The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district were once symbols of the Russian capital’s economic boom in the early 2000s. Now they are a sign of its vulnerability, following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites shaken and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Police officers stand near the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district were once symbols of the Russian capital’s economic boom in the early 2000s. Now they are a sign of its vulnerability, following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites shaken and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

People stroll at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district were once symbols of the Russian capital’s economic boom in the early 2000s. Now they are a sign of its vulnerability, following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites shaken and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

People sit in a cafe in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 1, The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district were once symbols of the Russian capital’s economic boom in the early 2000s. Now they are a sign of its vulnerability, following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites shaken and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power. 2023. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

A view of the damaged building is seen in the “Moscow City” business district after a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, early Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Ukrainian drones again targeted Moscow and its surroundings early Tuesday morning, the Russian military reported. Two of three launched were shot down outside Moscow, while one crashed into a skyscraper in the Moscow City business district, damaging the building’s facade. (AP Photo)

Investigators examine an area next to damaged building in the “Moscow City” business district after a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, early Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Ukrainian drones again targeted Moscow and its surroundings early Tuesday morning, the Russian military reported. Two of three launched were shot down outside Moscow, while one crashed into a skyscraper in the Moscow City business district, damaging the building’s facade. (AP Photo)

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The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district dominate the skyline of the Russian capital. The sleek glass-and-steel buildings -- designed to attract investment amid an economic boom in the early 2000s – are a dramatic, modern contrast to the rest of the more than 800-year-old city.

Now they are a sign of its vulnerability, following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power.

The attacks on Sunday and Tuesday aren’t the first to hit Moscow — a drone even struck the Kremlin harmlessly in May. But these latest blasts, which caused no casualties but blew out part of a section of windows on a high-rise building and sent glass cascading to the streets, seemed particularly unsettling.

“It’s very frightening because you wake up at night hearing explosions,” said a woman who identified herself only as Ulfiya as she walked her dog, adding that she lived in a nearby building. Like other Muscovites interviewed by The Associated Press, she did not identify herself further out of fear of retribution or for her personal safety.

Another resident, who gave her name as Ekaterina, said Tuesday’s blast “sounded like thunder.”

“I think for the first time, I got really scared,” she said. “I don’t understand how people in a war zone can live like this every day and not go mad.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down two Ukrainian drones outside Moscow and had electronically jammed another, sending it crashing into the IQ-Quarter skyscraper that houses government offices like the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade — the same building that was hit Sunday.

A cordon went up around the building and personnel from the fire department and the Russian Investigative Committee were at the scene. Hours later, residents strolled through the district along the Moscow River or sat on benches in the sunshine. By about 1 p.m. Tuesday, workers were already starting to replace damaged windows.

The business district, a 10-minute subway ride west of the Kremlin, is home to some of Moscow’s flashiest restaurants, offering far-reaching views of the capital and a menu of upscale fare like three types of caviar, shellfish from Russia’s Far East and French cuisine.

But there was no escaping the grim news.

While Russian state television has largely played down the strikes, one channel sandwiched a segment on how Moscow’s air defenses successfully intercepted the drones in between reports highlighting Russian attacks on Ukraine.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in Ukraine that Moscow “is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war,” without confirming or denying Kyiv’s involvement in the drone attacks that in recent days have struck from the capital to the Crimean Peninsula .

After Sunday’s strike, the Kremlin said security would be ramped up.

Still, the size of the drone that hit the Moscow City district led analysts to question the effectiveness of the capital’s air defenses, suggesting it could have been launched from Ukraine.

“If this is the case, this would be rather embarrassing for Russia’s air defenses. If a drone has been in Russian airspace for hours, air defenses should have picked it up earlier and shot it down earlier,” said Ulrike Franke, an expert in drones and military technology at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

While they haven’t caused much physical damage, bringing the drone campaign to Moscow “blows holes in Russia’s narrative that the war on Ukraine is successful and that it is being prosecuted far away from any consequences for the Russian people themselves,” said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at the Chatham House think tank in London.

“That is something which is going to be harder and harder for Russia’s propaganda machine to explain away,” he said.

A Muscovite who identified himself to the AP only as Eldar summed up the strikes this way: “We attack them, they attack us. And it’s obvious that they will succeed somewhere, and we will succeed somewhere. We should try to strengthen the defense.”

In Odintsovo, where some of the drones were downed about 30 kilometers (18 miles) southwest of the capital, some residents discussed the events on their local Telegram channel.

One woman talked about hearing noises that turned out to be a car or improperly closed trash containers, and seeing what she thought were drones but actually were a flock of birds, a plane and a wind-blown plastic bag.

“How is it possible to live like this?” she asked the group.

“Stop creating panic,” one member admonished her.

“If you hear a noise, be happy because it hasn’t hit you,” added another.

Burrows reported from Tallinn, Estonia.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine