Cruise Passengers Injured in Serious Barcelona Bus Crash
On the afternoon of Monday, March 3, 2025, a shore excursion took a turn for the worse for dozens of cruise passengers when their tour bus was hit by another bus carrying Italian students on a visit to the capital of Catalonia.
At least 53 people were injured in the collision, with four – including a child – currently hospitalized in critical condition.
While there will be a more formal investigation into what exactly happened, what we do know is the two buses collided on Barcelona’s busy Avinguda Diagonal, which provides access to the popular Sagrada Familia church.
It appears that the bus transporting the Italian students – who were visiting from Messina (Sicily) – swerved to try to avoid a pedestrian who was crossing the street illegally and ended up hitting the parked tour bus that was transporting the cruise passengers.
The cruisers’ bus was operated by Autocares Julià, and per a statement from a company spokesperson, was parked in an authorized area for passenger drop-off and pick-up at Central Diagonal Avenue.
At around 3 p.m. local time, the parked bus was in the process of loading cruise guests when it was hit with enough force to be pushed onto the sidewalk, where it then hit a tree and a lamppost.
A 60-year-old pedestrian was also hit, although it’s unclear if they were the person who triggered this unfortunate chain of events by crossing the street outside of the designated areas or just an unlucky bystander.
The scene of the crash quickly became chaotic – with 19 ambulances, 10 firefighter units, and several police officers deployed to the scene to triage and care for the injured.
“There are four critically injured, including a minor, and three less seriously injured. The rest have suffered less serious injuries for which they are being treated in various hospitals in Barcelona,” Deputy Mayor Albert Batlle, who was on the scene, told news outlets.
The injured were transported to local hospitals as needed, and the buses were removed from the scene by around 7:30 p.m. that evening.
The Impact on Cruising
Of course, the most immediate impact on the cruise industry will be to the cruise passengers who were on the bus.
According to the Autocares Julià spokesperson, their bus was carrying cruisers of various nationalities, but most passengers were either British, German, or Italian.
“They were on a cruise liner which had arrived in Barcelona earlier today and was due to leave in the next few hours. I don’t know whether there are any British tourists among the most seriously hurt. It is too early to say at this stage,” he said in a statement obtained by The Mirror shortly after the accident.
It’s unclear which cruise ship the guests were sailing with, as both Windstar Cruises’ Star Legend and Costa Cruises’ Costa Toscana called on the Barcelona Cruise Port that day.
Either way, it’s likely that at least some of the guests missed their cruise ship due to the need for medical treatment and/or to obtain a new form of transportation back to the pier.
This means they will need to either fly to the next port of call to re-board their ship or to coordinate with the cruise line to reclaim their luggage and make their way home.
Considering the unusual nature of a crash like this, both of the cruise lines would likely already be trying their best to support their impacted guests.
Read Also: From Mishaps to Maydays – Cruise Ship Accidents
From a port perspective, it’s possible that the collision may reignite the fire behind Barcelona’s push to limit cruise ships.
“Very concerned and awaiting the situation of the accident between two buses in Barcelona. I am in permanent contact with Mayor Jaume Collboni and the emergency services, whom I thank for their quick action. All my support to those affected,” Catalonian regional president Salvador Illa posted on X.
Since October of 2023, Barcelona has imposed limitations on where cruise ships can dock to lessen pollution and congestion.
Since then, Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni has expressed his support of curbing over tourism further with stricter cruise ship limitations – and with this tourist bus crash one of several to occur lately – Mayor Collboni’s cause may be strengthened.