Personal Injury Law

British tourists injured as Mediterranean cruise ship hit by heavy seas

By Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A.

Thirty passengers were injured yesterday as a cruise ship carrying more than 300 British and Irish holidaymakers was battered by heavy seas in the Mediterranean.

Passengers described how they were tipped out of bed amid smashing glass and upended chairs and tables as the Brilliance of the Seas was buffeted by high winds and heavy swells on its way to the port of Alexandria in Egypt.

The ship listed several times, sending furniture crashing to the ground and spreading panic among holidaymakers.

A grand piano slammed into a wall and computer screens in the ship?s internet cafe shattered, according to passengers.

"You can't even begin to imagine the damage on the ship, it?s awful. Windows, showers, mirrors, the hairdressing basins have all smashed. The whole ship is wrecked. Grand piano smashed through a window. There were passengers running around with life jackets on, people screaming, all the spa girls were panicking....it?s really horrible!? one crew member wrote on the website cruisecritic.com.

Another woman wrote: ?The beds were sliding back and forth!! Broken glass everywhere as everything on it went flying. Tables and chairs upended. The gym is in a shambles - spin bikes everywhere. Casino closed, shops closed. No one allowed out on upper decks."

The cruise ship, which is operated by Royal Caribbean, had to abandon plans to dock in Alexandria and instead made for Valletta in Malta, where it was expected to arrive today.

?People are very, very shaken up,? a spokeswoman for the company told The Daily Telegraph.

?About 30 passengers were treated for cuts and bruising. But the vessel is 100 per cent seaworthy and we have plenty of provisions on board.?

The vessel left Barcelona on Dec 5 at the start of a 12-night cruise that included stops in Palermo, Piraeus and Rhodes.

There are 2,500 passengers on board, 300 of whom were from Britain or Ireland, as well as around 800 crew.

The ship will remain in port in Valletta so that repairs can be carried out. Built in Papenburg, Germany, the 962ft-long vessel?s maiden voyage was in 2002.

It has 12 passenger decks, numerous bars and restaurants, a disco, a cinema, a library, three swimming pools, a rock-climbing wall and a nine-hole miniature golf course.

Originally Posted at: www.telegraph.co.uk

Full post as published by Cruise Ship Law on December 14, 2010 (boomark / email).