Venice gondola filled with tourists capsizes after selfie-snapping passengers refuse to sit down
Fox News
A gondola in Venice, Italy, capsized after tourists didn’t listen to warnings to sit down and stop taking selfies.
According to The Guardian, a group of tourists from China were taking selfies and moving around the gondola when orders were given to sit down.
The gondolier was attempting to navigate the small boat underneath a bridge , which required passengers to be balanced and not move around.
Passengers on the gondola reportedly ignored the warning and continued to take pictures and stand up, which resulted in the boat tipping over.
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The group of tourists were rescued from the water and taken to the nearby La Fenice theater, where they were provided with “hospitality and warmth,” according to the report.
Tourists on the flipped gondola could be heard yelling “Oh my God,” a video of the incident posted to TikTok on Sunday shows.
According to the New York Post, gondola tours reduced their capacity in 2020, with Venice’s gondoliers association president Andrea Balbi citing overweight tourists.
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“It’s true that compared to 10 or 15 years ago, tourists weigh a bit more,” Balbi said. “Unlike in a lift, where there’s a message that says ‘only six people or a maximum weight’, we don’t have scales to weigh people, and so we reduced the number of passengers.”
The tourists likely plunged into cold water, as the average temperature in Venice in December is 46 degrees.
No individuals were injured in the incident.