Passengers in the Italian city panicked after the boat capsized, leaving them treading water. Video / @ienaridens69
A gondola full of tourists has capsized in Venice after they were told not to stand in the boat to take selfies.
The boat was passing under a bridge close to St Mark’s Square when it flipped over, dumping the tourists into the frigid Venice water.
Now, a TikTok capturingthe moment has gone viral, racking up more than four million views.
The gondolier tried to pull off a tricky manoeuvre to get the boat under the bridge while the tourists, who were visiting from China, kept on shifting around the boat, according to the New York Post.
The group were reportedly taking photos of themselves and the city’s beautiful sights when the incident occurred. The tourists were allegedly warned against standing and taking selfies prior to falling into the water.
The gondolier had asked the five passengers to keep still until they were under the bridge in order to not disrupt the boat’s centre of gravity.
A group of tourists were warned not to stand and take selfies while on a gondola in Venice — but they didn’t listen. Photo / TikTok
Despite the warning, the tourists continued to stand and take more photographs, which caused the gondola to capsize.
In clips posted to TikTok, the passengers were seen clinging to the boat, yelling: “Oh my God” as they desperately tried to pull themselves into another gondola.
The gondolier then also jumped into the freezing cold canal to help the passengers to safety.
They were later provided with “hospitality and warmth” inside the La Fenice theatre, according to The Guardian.
None of the passengers was injured.
The Venice Gondolier’s Association reduced capacity on the city’s gondolas in 2020, blaming overweight passengers for the change. This brought the max capacity from six to five people on smaller boats and from 14 to 12 on bigger boats.
