Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 by Peter Knego
THOMSON MAJESTY (shown as LOUIS MAJESTY) at Genoa, photo © Peter Knego, February 2010.
The 1992-built, 32,396-gt THOMSON MAJESTY (ex BIRKA QUEEN, ROYAL MAJESTY, NORWEGIAN MAJESTY, LOUIS MAJESTY), operated by the British-based Thomson Holidays, was the setting in which five crew members perished while conducting an emergency drill at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The five crew, who hailed from The Philippines, Indonesia and Ghana were killed when a lifeboat detached during a safety drill, plunging them 65 feet into the harbor waters. Two Greek nationals and one Filipino crew member were also moderately injured in the mishap.
Owned by Cyprus-based Louis Cruises, THOMSON MAJESTY is based in the Canaries and was carrying 2,000 passengers at the time of the crew-only incident.
smudge
February 11, 2013 at 1:03 am
Absolute tragedy…and yet another accident involving tenders/lifeboats used in an evacuation drill. This was investigated by the MAIB in 2001 and several problems were exposed regarding the design, functionality and safety of lifeboat/tender launching systems…the report was damning, yet, it seems nothing was done to improve the systems in use.
What also struck me is the way the tender/lifeboat in this case remained capsized. One question overheard more times than I care to remember is “what happens if the lifeboat flips over?” asked by pax during muster drill, the standard reply is always “you do not need to worry, the lifeboats are built to self right, so even if it tips over, it will always turn itself up the right way”
Well on this occasion, the tender/lifeboat failed to self right and it wasn’t fully loaded with 150 pax and this wasn’t an emergency…it was just a drill and seeing that all important tender/lifeboat refuse to self right will have sent a chill through the pax who were watching…afterall, how can anyone be sure that a cable failure wouldn’t happen during a real emergency, plunging a fully laden boat into the sea from 60ft up…especially since all of these accidents have involved only half a dozen or so crew being on the boat when it gave way….chilling thought…
smudge
February 11, 2013 at 1:18 am
Another thing to consider…
Don’t be fooled by the age of the ship (and thus the equipment). Back in 2005 I sailed Norwegian Jewel on her shakedown cruise from Dover. We anchored off Jersey and tendering carried on throughout the day.
When it was time to stow the tenders, two of them were left hanging 30ft above the waterline due to faulty winches for just over 4 hours. The crew tried everything in the book to get the winches to restart…hammers and other tools were used to get the winches to go but to no avail. The crew had quite an audience watching them struggle, and eventually after alot of brute force, the winches worked and the boats were stowed.
This was on a ship that was just 2 days into its passenger carrying life…she was fresh out of the shipyard.
In an emergency you might not have 4 hours to faff about with winches…
These launching systems have not really changed that much in years, unlike the ships that they are used on…time for change, perhaps?
Henry Casciaro
February 11, 2013 at 3:25 am
Just a couple of corrections on the information stated above. The Thomson Majesty was/is berthed at Santa Cruz de la Palma which is a smaller island of the Canaries group of islands (not to be confused with Santa Cruz de Tenerife which is one of the largest islands and where the cruises start and finish) Also the number of passengers on board was approximately 1400 and not 2000 as reported (the latter figure being the approximate maximum capacity of the vessel with all berths full).
Kenenth Eden
February 11, 2013 at 10:02 am
No laughing matter – serious, and truly a major safety issue for passenger as well as crew. Just awful My heart goes out to one and all and their families.
No ship, cruise line or any other factor can outweigh the safety issues that are presented as as “safe” and “reassuring” for anyone, be it a drill or during an emergency.
I witnessed the AUSONIA on a drill in the Grand Canal, Vernice, when the davits slipped and spilled the crew members into the water from one of the life boats. Many passngers on the ship I was sailing laughed with glee at the sight, as did those onboard the AUSONIA. The wet yet seemingly happy crew swam to the lifeboat, which was able to be lowered, climbed in and resumed the drill.
JFOK
February 11, 2013 at 10:07 am
That ship has not had good luck since leaving Norwegian Cruise Lines.
First the rogue wave episode and now this.
Kalle Id
February 11, 2013 at 1:33 pm
I should perhaps be noted the Louis charters two of their ships to Thomson, who are in fact a UK arm of the Germany-based TUI group. And to the bets of my knowledge there has been no suspicion of foul play in the case of the sinking of the SEA DIAMOND; the finding was that the offical charts used on both the SEA DIAMOND and all other ships at the time marked the reef the ship hit to be located about a hundred meters closer to the shore than it is in reality. Furthermore, the ship sank at 4 PM – hardly the middle of the night.
Michael Grace
February 11, 2013 at 6:28 pm
As a child and teenager, I sailed with my parents on the Lurline, Matsonia, Mariposa, United States, Canberra, Princess Patricia, Santa Rosa and the Del Sud. There were no virus outbreaks, fires at sea, lifeboats falling into the sea, ships hitting rocks, ships losing power, etc. The crews were all english speaking (American or British) including the medical staff. You didn’t go to a lifeboat drill, as you do today, wondering if these multi-national “crews” could save anyone let alone themselves. I sailed three years ago on the Queen Victoria from Southampton to New York. After seeing all the reporting on the Costa Concordia… there would have been no way 80% of the passengers would have survived a similar ordeal on the QV in the rough January seas. I’d probably stick with Crystal or the German cruise lines. Carnival “brand” ships are run like bean counters – and dangerous ones too.
joolsaitch
February 12, 2013 at 5:51 am
There is something not right about this. There are a number of photographs online showing the upturned boat behind the black and red coloured tender with an open, gun-port door and access ladder between.
Try if you can to enlarge the photos and look at the davits from which the boat fell. The forward davit appears to have moved down its traveler and is in the normal position for lowering the boat. The aft davit however doesn’t look right at all. It’s at a different angle to the forward one, as if it hasn’t gone the full distance and I cannot see the angled piece at the top (a roughly 90 degree angle) from which the aft falls suspend the boat. It looks as if its broken off.
If (and I stress IF) this is what happened then the stern falls would have detached with the broken bit of the davit, the boat would have dropped by the stern and been left hanging from the bow with its full weight abruptly taken by the forward falls which then parted with the tragic result we’ve seen.
If that’s the case then heads will have to roll at Louis Cruises. Major structural failure in something so important is unforgivable.
Kenenth Eden
February 12, 2013 at 8:24 am
What consitutes a “proper” or “standard” in the cruise industry for muster drills? Here are my findings on several recent cruises that I persoanlly sailed – These drills on ships and cruise lines were after the CONCORDIA disater, suppposedly with “new” safety regulations? Really?
One, 14 dayer, from Venice with no muster drill during the entire cruise – taped announcement, by the captain, no less, that there was not enough time for it due to a late flight from the USA, and passsnergrwes should refer to the ships drill info found on the back of the cabin door!!!!!!!!!
Second, 12 nighter from Port Liberty – before sailing, passengers crammed into a small bar (there were other stations, of course) without life vests, passengers told to leave them in their cabins, where we sat for a video screeining of the drill – passsnegrs told NOT top use cell phones, which of course they did, laughing, talking and noise drowned out the audio, one crew member in yellow hat yelled “shut up and listen” – really, he did, to whit, after English, then Spanish then French, everyone seemd to yell and drown out the other languages presented in the drill, and started to walk out.
Third, same line as above, same bar, same scene, same pitiable effect by passengers. Only this time, crew member in yellow hat said nothing, and we heard nothing from the videos audio. How lame is this?????? Oh, this ship had two smokinmg areas, one up near a pool, and one on the so called promenade, right where the ship bunkered fuel in St. Marten, just 4 decks below our cabin. We got to smell the fumes and the smoke – how wonderful was that gig???????? Oh, on a ships with no sprinklers on any cabin balcony. I know, I checked sprinkler situation out with cabin stewards.
Now, two Cunard cruises – one crossing on the QM2 one QV in Caribbean – BOTH had all passsngers take muster on deck, with life vests carried in hand, ALL passengers roll called, ALL passenegrs donned vests with assist by crew if needed (we had 8 crew members in our lifeboat section), both captains held live public service announcements over the PA system. Incidently, there were active drills held during these Cunard cruises, for crew and were announced as such over the PA system, with fake smoke, haz mat suits, and other “set up” drills, that seemed realistic, and very seriously undertaken by the crew. Imagine exiting the elevator on deck 4 on the MARY only to find the vestibule full of fake smoke with the fire squad reenacting a fire drill, as I did. The detectors were tested often and loudly. This is something Cunard has done since I first sailed Cunard. Sure, maybe somebody had a cruise that did not have as good a drill or series of drills, but, the ones we have experienced were very effcient. Oh, those that did not report for the drill were hauled out of whrever and forced to paarticipate in a drill just for them. How special.
Kenenth Eden
February 12, 2013 at 10:22 am
One should use extreme caution when refering to any company or corpration as “criminals”.
Regardless of any alledged or factual findings by a court of law, such emanations could prove slanderous, malicious and an act of liable.
Mark
February 13, 2013 at 2:01 pm
Lifeboats and the launching systems are lethal. I have got to the point where I do not allow anyone in the boat whilst launching and recovering boats in a drill.
This has been going on for years and the IMO sits on its hands thinking about it.
There have been more people killed and injured in lifeboat drills than have ever been saved. Surely this points to some serious flaws.
B Jackson
February 14, 2013 at 4:53 pm
The Majesty carries appox 1400 passengers and 600 crew, 2000 in all