QEII Hits Sandbank On Final Voyage

The QE2 ran aground this morning on a sandbank in Southampton Water with 2,700 passengers and crew on board as the liner arrived for her final voyage to Dubai. No injuries have been reported and five tugs were sent out to rescue the vessel.

The spokesman said: “She has been refloated and is under way under her own power and heading back to her berth in Southampton.” He added: “She had only partially gone aground, and the tugs pulled her off.”

She will be ready in time to take part in the Armistice commemorations this evenning when a Tiger Moth aircraft will drop a million poppies over the vessel to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War.