WATCH: Superyacht collides with Simpson Bay bridge
A 43-metre superyacht has collided with the operator booth at the Simpson Bay bridge on the Caribbean island of St Maarten — just three years since a similar incident occurred in the same location.
Footage circulating on social media shows Royal Denship Baca crashing into the booth at the bridge entrance on Sunday (8 January 2023). The yacht hit the bridge on starboard side, before heeling to port. No-one was injured in the incident, and the yacht was successfully piloted into the lagoon. It is not known how much damage the yacht sustained.
There has been no confirmation of what caused the collision, although local media reports that conditions were unusually windy at the time.
Damage to the booth. Image courtesy of Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority
It’s not the first time a yacht has collided with the Simpson Bay bridge — in 2019, the 86m superyacht Ecstasea crashed into and destroyed the control booth, ripping it clean off.
On Monday, The Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority (SLAC) reported that officials from Port St Maarten Group (PSG) had carried out a preliminary assessment of the bridge, and there was some damage to wires leading to the operations consoles. However, operations are now continuing as normal from the machine room and the bridge is fully operational again.
