Cruise Law News : Maritime Lawyer & Attorney : James M. Walker : Walker & O'Neill Law Firm : Admiralty Law, Cruise Ship Accidents & Injuries

A number of photographs and videos have been posted on the internet showing the large wave which hit the Louis Majesty cruise ship. 

We reported on this story in prior articles:  Monster Waves Hit Louis Majesty Cruise Ship and President of International Cruise Victims Questions Cruise Passenger Safety - Louis Cruise Lines No Stranger to Disaster .

The wave and wind conditions at the time of the incident should have clearly alerted the officers on duty to warn the passengers to secure themselves in their cabins.  The Master should have instructed the passengers to keep away from the public windows, particularly at the vessel's bow.  The cruise ship was heading directly into the waves and those passengers killed and injured were particularly vulnerable in the public areas at the bow.  

All cruise ships have what are called "safety management systems" (SMS) or "safety and quality" (SQM) protocols which address how the vessel should be operated in rough weather and the type of precautions which should be considered to protect the passengers.  It will be interesting to see what type of safety procedures the cruise ship had, and whether the vessel's officers ignored them.

CBS News has a video (below) depicting the wave striking the ship's bow (the ship in the video is the "Norwegian Majesty") and describing the panic aboard the cruise ship:

The "Louis Majesty" used to be NCL's "Norwegian Majesty" and, before that, the "Royal Majesty" operated by Majesty Cruise Lines from 1992 - 1997.  Long before I began representing passengers and crewmembers, I represented Majesty Cruise Lines (around 1995) when this cruise ship was based in Miami.  I have been on this ship and in the area where the glass blew out.  The Royal Majesty was considered a large cruise ship 20 years ago.  

Credits:

Video                    CBS News 

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This morning Kendall Carver, President of the International Cruise Victims organization, appeared on the "Fox and Friends" television show regarding the death of passengers aboard the Louis Majesty cruise ship.  

Mr. Carver raised the issue why the passengers were not warned of the wave conditions before the disaster, based on information gathered from the ship's radar and ocean buoys.  Waves of this height (around 30 feet) are not considered to be "rogue" waves and are to be reasonably expected on a cyclical basis. 

Mr. Carver also questioned why passengers were sitting in public areas with unsecured items around them near the glass windows when the waves crashed against the ship, and why the Louis Cruise Line officers did not inform the passengers to secure themselves in their cabins.

No Stranger to Disaster

In response to our first article on this incident - Monster Waves Hit Louis Majesty Cruise Ship - a reader, Jose, left an interesting comment:

A coincidence? This ship was owned by the company Louis Cruises whose "Sea Diamond" sank in Santorini on 5th April three years ago; two people also died . . . I was on board the ship when she crashed and sank.

The reader is referring to the sinking of the Sea Diamond cruise ship which struck a reef in Santorini, Greece.  The reef was in a known and well marked location.  The vessel's hull was ruptured and the cruise ship took on water.  Rather than grounding the vessel in shallow water, the officers thereafter took the vessel into deep water, where it sank. 

1,600 persons were evacuated, but two passengers, a father and daughter, were lost. There was a consensus that the officers engaged in reckless seamanship.  Greek maritime authorities arrested the cruise ship's Master and five officers and charged them with negligence. 

Photographs of the sinking of the Sea Diamond can be viewed at the web site of Michael Hipler.

Credits:

Ken Carver     KPHO News

Sea Diamond cruise ship     YouTube BlueDonkeyMan         

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Three 30 foot waves crashed into the Louis Majesty cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday.  Two passengers died. 

The Greece-based Louis Cruise Lines ship was north-east of Barcelona, Spain, heading east to Genoa, Italy when three "abnormal" waves struck the vessel.

The waves smashed windows in public areas.  CNN reported that the deceased passengers included a German man, 69, from North Rhine Westphalia, and an Italian man, 52, who was traveling with his family.

Fourteen others were treated aboard the cruise ship for injuries, and were hospitalized when the ship returned to Barcelona on Wednesday night.  One passenger sustained two broken legs in the incident.

The last "rogue" wave case involved Norwegian Cruise Line's Dawn cruise ship in 2005.  The NCL ship was hit by a 70 foot wave, breaking cabin windows and flooding over 60 cabins.  Another maritime lawyer in Miami sued NCL, alleging that the cruise line endangered its passengers by trying to sail through rough weather so that the cruise ship could arrive back in port in time to be filmed in Donald Trump's Apprentice television show. 

NCL denied these allegations, and a jury decided in NCL's favor. 

March 5, 2010 Update:  See updated article: President of International Cruise Victims Questions Cruise Passenger Safety - Louis Cruise Lines No Stranger to Disaster

TIME Magazine:  "The Cruise Ship Disaster: How Do 'Rogue Waves' Happen?"

 

Credit:

Video      CBS News

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