A newspaper reports that police in Turkey are investigating the death of two shipyard workers who inhaled toxic fumes from a plumbing fixture yesterday as they were disassembling the MS Pacific cruise ship which had became famous as the "Love Boat" in the 1970’s television series.

“The Love Boat” was towed from Genoa to the seaside town of Aliağa in Turkey last week to be stripped and dismantled by Izmir Ship Recycling Company which bought the 42-year-old ship for 2.5 million euros.

The newspaper states that ten workers who entered the engine room were poisoned by fumes released from a plumbing fixture’s exhaust pipe while they were draining water in the engine room. 

The affected workers were taken to nearby hospitals, but two of them, Doğan Balcı, age 37, and Davut Özdemir, age 40, died. 

The poisoning was the second such incident to occur on the ship. Another worker reportedly had been sickened on the first day of dismantling the ship.