Government has been criticised for making no Parliamentary statement on the grounding of a cruise ship in Bermuda's waters on Wednesday.

The incident dominated the news agenda after a day-long rescue operation to free the 130,000 tonne ship and 1,700 passengers and crew on board the Norwegian Crown after she hit a reef while attempting to enter the Dundonald Channel between Spanish Point and Dockyard.

The cruise ship was making her way from St. George's to Hamilton when she came to grief and remained stuck on the bottom for almost 12 hours before high tide eventually freed the ship.

But when MPs met for yesterday's House of Assembly session there were no Ministerial statements relating to the incident.

United Bermuda Party Shadow Minister for Race Relations and Economic Empowerment Jamahl Simmons said: "We heard a number of statements on a number of subjects, but unfortunately we heard nothing from the Minister of Tourism and Transport or any other member of Government on this important issue.

"It is the responsibility of every Minister to report on issues of national importance and today the Government acted as though this issue wasn't worthy of mention."

The UBP MP said there were a number of outstanding questions still to be answered. He want to know what is the status of the investigation into the collision, what steps have been taken to prevent a re-occurrence and has the Government done anything to "ensure that the memories of our visitors were not marred by this accident?"

Mr. Simmons added: "While the Government dropped the ball on informing the public, the grounding of the Norwegian Crown is an event which saw the fine men and women of Marine and Ports rise to the occasion and each and every Bermudian owes them a tremendous debt of gratitude."

An preliminary investigation of the reef that was struck by the ship has shown significant damage to the area and widespread sediment churned up by the rescue efforts to free the ship affecting coral in the surrounding area. A full investigation is currently being carried out by the Department of Maritime Administration.

The Norwegian Crown suffered dents to her hull as a result of the grounding, but was deemed seaworthy and sailed on schedule back to Philadelphia on Friday morning. A spokeswoman for Norwegian Cruise Line confirmed the ship would be returning to Bermuda next week to continue her summer cruise schedule.