RIGA Latvian naval ships evacuate passengers from the Mona Lisa, above, which ran aground on a Baltic Sea sandbank.

The navigator of the cruise ship steered it the wrong side of a lighthouse, a maritime official said.

Stanislavs Cakss, an inspector at the Latvian marine administration, said the navigator of the German-operated ship, which was on a ten-day tour, “had to lead the vessel past a lighthouse, and he did it on the wrong side. It was just the human factor.”

The 662 passengers, mostly elderly German tourists, were evacuated and salvage crews were struggling to get the liner afloat yesterday.

“They are still trying to move the ship but it’s a tough and costly operation,” Mr Cakss said. Experts from Latvia and the Netherlands were involved. The passengers were taken to the Latvian capital, Riga, and were due back in Germany yesterday. (AFP)

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