Brawling family of 23 removed from cruise ship

SYDNEY • Twenty-three members of the same family have been removed from a cruise ship near Sydney after a brawl that left several injured, reports said.

Police removed the group, which included men, women and children, from the boat last Friday after it docked in Sydney on a 10-day South Pacific cruise.

Video taken by passengers showed over a dozen people fighting on the ship as crew members struggled to break up the violence.

Reports said the group had been terrorising passengers for days.

"People were pulling their children out of the pool because they were crying and scared," a witness told The Herald Sun newspaper.

It said some of the group had been placed under "house arrest" on the ship before being ejected.

One witness told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation she had seen seven separate fights break out during the trip.

Police said they were investigating the incident.

Ms Jennifer Vandekreeke, a spokesman for Carnival Cruise Line, said the trouble involved a single family, adding that disembarking an entire group "is our last resort".

The incident comes just days after a separate cruise ship was forced to return to Sydney after a fight over a queue for the toilets.

A Russian woman was charged last Monday with attacking a man with a wine bottle.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on February 18, 2018, with the headline Brawling family of 23 removed from cruise ship. Subscribe