Tuesday, April 23, 2024

The 11 Worst Cruise Disasters in History

cruise disasters

This Royal Caribbean ship’s passengers fell victim to a widespread stomach virus, which affected 700 crew members and passengers. Consider the New Year’s Eve festivities held on ships around the world. When he spotted the pirate crafts coming his way, Captain Patrick Marchesseau ordered the crew to prepare for battle, but the veteran pirates expertly avoided his fire hoses and line traps (meant to tangle up their motors). Pulling up alongside the ship, the Somalis hooked a ladder to the side of the boat, and when Le Ponant's doctor tried to knock the ladder off, the pirates began firing their machine guns. Soon, the Somalis were in charge, and the situation was made even more intense because the pirates were high on a stimulant called khat.

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The crew freaked out and abandoned most of the passengers, escaping in the lifeboats, and in the ensuing madness, many of these boats were capsized or destroyed. Now, the numbers are fuzzy, but of the approximately 400 people on board, it seems less than 90 survived. Rebecca Coriam was a Youth Activity worker on Disney Wonder, a cruise ship taking tourists down the coast of Mexico. On March 22, 2011, the 24-year-old British citizen was caught on CCTV footage, talking on the telephone, appearing quite distraught.

The Carnival Triumph cruise from hell

Of the 888 passengers and 346 crew members onboard, over 400 were killed when the ship sank, most of whom were Ukrainian. The SS Admiral Nakhimov was originally built as a passenger liner for the North German Lloyd Line in Germany, sailing as the Berlin. She was then used by the Nazis as a hospital ship during the Second World War, before being given to the Soviet Union through reparations. By this time she had already been hit by mines and sunk once, and she was sunk for a second time in 1947. Other ship-on-bridge allisions killed people but did not topple the span. This includes the July 2015 death of a construction worker on the Eads Bridge in St. Louis when a tugboat pushing two loaded barges struck his scaffolding as it was passing under the span.

cruise disasters

Costa Concordia disaster

The sea conditions worsened that night, leading to the ship rolling from side to side, and eventually, an explosion was heard due to a lack of repairs for the waste disposal system. This all led to the ship losing power and water filling its generator room, so the generators were shut down and the ship was led adrift. A distress call was sent and answered by numerous South African helicopters and a Dutch container ship.

The Costa Concordia struck an underwater rock, capsized, and sank, killing 32 passengers. A Coast Guard officer in contact with the ship at the time of the sinking claimed he told Schettino to get back onboard. After being convicted of manslaughter and pursuing several appeals, Schettino only started his 16-year prison sentence in May of 2017. The salvage effort (the ship was completely dismantled) was the largest effort of its kind. The story of the SS Morro Castle is so dreadful it’s surprising no Hollywood producer has turned the tale into a horror movie. Director Fritz Lang collaborated on a script about the tragedy, and named it “Hell Afloat” (which is a pretty apt description), but it was never made.

The SS Morro Castle disaster in September 1934 resulted in the loss of more than 137 passengers and crew out of the 318 passengers and 240 crew onboard. The cruise ship was on its 174th return voyage to New York City from Havana. The cruise ship collided with the large bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev at a speed of five knots, causing it to sink within a few minutes. The accident was caused by negligence of the captains of the two ships. The captain of Pyotr Vasev failed to heed the warning announced from SS Admiral Nakhimov, while the captain of Admiral Nakhimov was absent on the bridge at the time of the tragedy.

Cases Rise, Criticism Mounts, but Ships Keep Cruising

Then in 1915, in another well-known tragedy, the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine, claiming the lives of 785 passengers. But just a few weeks later, the SS Eastland topped both the Titanic and the Lusitania in a horrific accident that ended with hundreds of passengers floating lifelessly in Lake Michigan. MIAMI — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating more cruise ships due to new cases of COVID-19 as the omicron variant drives extremely high infection levels in the industry hub of Florida. Cruise ship captain Wendy Williams rates eight cruise ship disasters in movies and television shows for realism. Ortelli was later on hand when, in September 2013, the 115,000-ton, 1,000-foot long cruise ship was righted vertical off its seabed graveyard in an extraordinary feat of engineering.

The ship came close to crashing into Norway's rocky coast, and hundreds of people were evacuated over the course of several hours. A little more than an hour after impact, the crew began to evacuate the ship. But the report noted that some passengers testified that they didn’t hear the alarm to proceed to the lifeboats.

What Happens to Your Cruise When Natural Disasters Strike? - Cruise Critic

What Happens to Your Cruise When Natural Disasters Strike?.

Posted: Mon, 21 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The 11 Worst Cruise Disasters in History

The ship was met with winds of up to mph, and ultimately, a downburst (a strong downward wind) caused the ship to capsize and sink. Out of the 454 people on board, only 12 survived, making the total number of dead 442. Fourteen people died and five were injured in the accident, which the report said caused an estimated $30.1 million in damage to the bridge and $276,000 to the barges. Fortunately, traffic was light and vehicles stopped before reaching the missing portion of the bridge, according to an National Transportation Safety Board report of the crash.

On 25 July 1956, the ship collided with the Stockholm, a Swedish passenger liner (source). Passengers gathered on the deck but were not given clear instructions. Some lifeboats launched, but containing just 85 people, most of whom were crew. Passengers were forced to jump into the stormy waters, but some died due to being unable to operate the flotation devices, or even after being struck by the devices being thrown into the waters. There were 454 people onboard the ship, most of whom were from the Nanjing region of China and in their 60s and 70s.

The cause of the incident is well documented – the ship hit an iceberg, creating a series of holes along the starboard side of the ship. This caused the hull to buckle and separate, eventually leading to the ship sinking. Most cruises go off without a hitch, and even when something does go wrong, it’s mostly something minor.

But as he tried to fire, Gurung took a bullet, dropping him instantly. Fortunately, Groves pulled his comrade to safety and began firing the LRAD at the pirates, causing the outlaws to beat a hasty retreat. Eventually, four tugboats towed the so-called "poop cruise" from its position off the Yucatan Peninsula to Mobile, Alabama. Although, there were a few hiccups, with a tow line and some tugboat equipment breaking along the way. As to why the cruise line didn't have the passengers switch over to another ship, that scenario would've been much too risky.

But in 2011, things went from magical to mysterious when a Disney employee seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth. However, French helicopters chased down one vehicle carrying at least three confirmed pirates, and after shooting out the engine, the Somalis were taken into custody. Unfortunately, these three only possessed a fraction of the ransom money. The rest of the pirate band had disappeared, vanishing with the haul of a lifetime. Hoping to make up for the nightmare, the cruise line gave its passengers a refund, an extra $500 per person, and best of all, a free future cruise. We can't say for sure, but chances are good most people didn't take them up on that offer.

The Carnival Freedom was denied entry to Aruba and Bonaire after an undisclosed number of passengers and crew aboard caught the virus. The Costa Concordia was owned by Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & PLC. It featured four swimming pools, a casino, and reportedly the largest spa on a ship.

Evidently, the captain steered the ship so close to the island that the Costa Concordia was less than 1,000 feet away from land. According to Schettino, he meant this as a respectful "salute" to Giglio. According to authorities, he was actually trying to impress his girlfriend. At first, everyone thought the Vesta was in worse trouble, so passengers began paddling to the Arctic for safety. But it quickly became apparent that the iron-huddled French ship had absolutely destroyed the Arctic's wooden hull. As the American ship turned on its side, Luce ordered the ship to head for land, but as it chugged along, the boat quickly filled up with water.

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