Update: Tragedy Befalls Stricken “Love Boat”
Tragedy strikes during the attempt to right the listing former “Love Boat” PACIFIC PRINCESS at a Turkish scrapyard.
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Selim San reports from Aliaga that two workers were killed and another six injured by asphyxiation from gas exhaust during efforts to pump the flooded engine room of the listing ACIF (ex SEA VENTURE, PACIFIC PRINCESS, PACIFIC). The famed ship took on water during her tow from Genoa by the tug IZMIR BULL to Aliaga where she was beached on August 6 with the aid of two additional tugs.
MV PACIFIC Engine Room, bottom level. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2012.
Salvage is still underway to right the dangerously listing vessel which is now “under jurisdiction”. No scrapping permit will be issued until the ship is righted.
Peter Knego spent a day documenting the PACIFIC at Genoa in May of 2012. Click here to see what PACIFIC was like in her final days.
Video from “Aşk Gemisi artık hurda” of former PACIFIC PRINCESS arriving at Aliaga, Turkey.
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Just sickening to watch…
A similar event struck the old SS Constitution on its way to the scrap yards. She took on water in a storm, broke the tow rope, and sank in mid-Pacific. A more fitting end to a grande old dame, I think.
Really horrible that two workers lost their lives.
So sad that there has been a loss of life. I worked on board this beautiful ship in the 1990’s. Tragic to see this grand old lady go in this way.
So sad for the loss of life, startling that they rammed the ROCHDALE ONE to stop her forward movement, and ironic that she ends her days so close to what remains of her former fleet mate SKY PRINCESS.
What happened? Were they pumping the engine room with gas or diesel engine driven water pumps in a enclosed engine room? With people in there?
Or, if not, how were they asphyxiated otherwise?
Mark D.
They said gas came from a plumbing fixture… sounds like hydrogen sulfide gases may have escaped from old sewer tanks. Enclosed spaces, especialiy in unknown or abandonded enviroments, are extremly dangerous.
Thoughts and prayers for the workers, their loved ones, and their friends. I grew up loving Love Boat on TV, and took my first Princess cruise this summer–it was a dream come true. So sad to see this.
@Michael Blanche
A similar event also struck the SS American Star, she was being towed to thailand, entered a storm, her ropes broke and they could not bring her to heel, so she washed up in the canary islands and promptly broke in two before anyone could retrieve her, finally having succeeded at offing herself(she tried to sink atleast one other time). Yes she was ultimately plundered by vultures, but all shipwrecks are plundered by one kind of vulture or another, some human and some not.
Also this story reminds me of the RHMS Britanis who also managed to end her own life during a daylight scrap tow, she took on water, they tried to take her to port but she rolled over and sank first.
This is a tragedy, for these crew members and for their loved ones.
This sort of news generally does not make the news, yet, Peter’s dedication lets us be aware of it.
Can there ever be enough precaution’s or safety measures taken?
This is sad to watch. I sailed on her twice when she was new and she was a delightful, very comfortable ship. There was plenty of space and bright rooms and she was just the right size.
Julie McIntyre, were you the cruise director by any chance? 🙂
Big fan of the love boat, watched it as a child and it inspired me to go and work at sea.
Such a sad end my thought are with the families.
@Randal L. Schwartz
Wish I had been but only made it as far as a Senior Bar Stewardess on board. Great fun though.
So sad — for the lives lost….and for the end of a grand, romantic era. Worked onboard the elegant lady in the early 80s. She will be missed!