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Cruise liner runs aground off Latvia, almost 1,000 on board

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RIGA, May 4 (RIA Novosti) - A luxurious cruise liner with 984 passengers on board has run aground in the Baltic Sea's Irben Starit, Latvia's Coast Guard Service said on Sunday.

The coastguard said that all the people on board the vessel, which was en-route from Poland's Gdansk to Latvia's Riga, were safe and that there had been no reports of damage to the hull of the liner or fuel leaks.

The Latvian government has announced its decision that an evacuation of the liner's passengers will only be launched if the crew fails to refloat the vessel.

The vessel could theoretically be refloated, "If all the fuel and ballast water can be drained from the ship," Latvian Defense Minister Vinets Veldre said.

The Mona Lisa is 173 meters (567.5 feet) in length. It was constructed in 1966 and has previously run aground nine times.

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