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| Mass evacuation from Baltic ship | Mass evacuation from Baltic ship |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Latvian authorities have begun evacuating more than 700 people from a cruise ship stuck on a sandbank. | |
| So far tugs have failed to free the Bahamas-registered Mona Lisa, which ran aground off Latvia on Sunday. | |
| There is no immediate risk to the passengers, most of whom are German, coastguard officials say. | There is no immediate risk to the passengers, most of whom are German, coastguard officials say. |
| The Mona Lisa, which is German-owned, was sailing from the Polish port of Gdansk to the Latvian capital Riga when it hit a sandbank. | The Mona Lisa, which is German-owned, was sailing from the Polish port of Gdansk to the Latvian capital Riga when it hit a sandbank. |
| A total of 984 people are aboard the ship, 747 of them passengers. Not all of the crew are being evacuated. | |
| Six Latvian vessels and one from Sweden are involved in the salvage and evacuation, Lena Olbina, spokeswoman for the Latvian Coastguard Service, told the BBC News website. | |
| She said the passengers were being taken to the port of Ventspils, where they would get medical attention if needed. | |
| Latvia is continuing its efforts to free the Mona Lisa from the sandbank. | |
| It is not yet clear how the ship came to run aground. | |
| The ship is operated by the Lord Nelson-Seereisen German tour company. |