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A huge wave has slammed into a cruise ship carrying almost 2000 people in the Mediterranean, leaving two people dead and six injured.
The freak wave "smashed windows in the lounge area" of the Maltese-flagged Greek Cypriot-owned Louis Majesty, a spokesman for Spain's maritime rescue service said.
He said the accident occurred on Wednesday evening off the coast of Spain's northeastern Catalonia region as the vessel was en route for the Italian port of Genoa.
After the accident the captain rerouted the ship to the Spanish port of Barcelona, where it arrived late on Wednesday to evacuate the dead and injured.
Police in Greece said one of passengers killed was German and the other was Italian, but gave no further details.
They said there were 1350 passengers and 580 crew on the ship, including the Greek captain.
Spanish news reports said five people slightly injured while a 62-year-old woman was in serious condition with her both her legs broken.
A spokeswoman for the Barcelona port authority said the vessel had set off from Cartagena in southeast Spain earlier on Wednesday. She said it would continue to Genoa after evacuating the victims in Barcelona.
The 200-metre-long, 41,000-tonne Louis Majesty has 732 cabins.
