JOANIE MADDEN'S 'FOLK CRUISE' HIT BY PIANO ACCORDION SHAPED ICEBERG

New York flute player Joanie Madden's Folk'N Irish Cruise has been abandoned after hitting an iceberg shaped like a piano accordion off the cost of the United States.

The cruise which features many folk and traditional Irish artists was only just returning to New York after a week at sea when around 3 hours from their destination Captain Joanie Madden spotted what she thought was a piano accordion floating in the water. However this in fact turned out to be an iceberg shaped like the unsightly instrument.

The 'One-in-a-Million' chance encounter proved to be devastating as Captain Madden was left with no option but to brace for impact which threw hundreds of sessioners and instruments flying through the air.

"It was my fault really," she said, "I thought somebody had just thrown a piano accordion overboard and I wouldn't have blamed them. But as we got closer it got larger and larger and by the time I had realised it was an actual iceberg it was too late!"

"I mean, hitting an iceberg is unlucky but hitting one that's shaped like that instrument is just taking the piss. Talk about kicking someone when they're down."

Unlike regular icebergs the piano accordion seems to thrive in all conditions regardless of the temperature making it seemingly impossible to get rid of. Scientists say that its bulky appearance makes it indestructible and like most icebergs only a very small portion of it can be seen from the surface. Most of the piano accordion iceberg is below the surface of the water making it difficult to detect but making it extremely deadly.

Witnesses to the incident have reported seeing musicians using bodhráns as floatation devices with some even using the bodhrán players themselves. When distributing lifeboats it was made clear that women and children and musicians were first and that accompanists and dancers were to go down with the ship.

It also reported that musicians Brian Conway, Dylan Foley and Josh Dukes were seen stealing the only motor powered boat leaving many of the other musicians to fend for themselves.