Pandaw has issued a response to a recent collision between the Kindat Pandaw and a pontoon bridge on the Upper Ganges.
As reported in the U.K.-based Sunday Times (subscription required), the Kindat Pandaw collided with a pontoon bridge and “began dragging it along,” causing passengers to be called to their muster stations for an evacuation.
In a blog post responding to the incident, Pandaw founder Paul Strachan said that an investigation by the river cruise line found that the ship accidentally bumped into a floating bridge that had been opened to allow the ship to pass through, holing the hull above the waterline.
Strachan went on to say that the evacuation was ordered by a freelance tour guide who had “panicked.” “This should have been the master’s decision not the guides,” Strachan wrote, claiming that the ships are designed to cope with such events with bilge…