Thomson cruise ship crew die in lifeboat accident
Five people die after the lifeboat of a cruise ship operated by Thomson fell into the sea while the ship was docked in the Canary Islands.
Television images showed a small, white two-hulled lifeboat capsized beside the Thomson Majesty, which is chartered by the British company but owned by Louis Cruises.
Rescue personnel were called to the dockside in the port of Santa Cruz in La Palma after “a lifeboat with occupants had fallen overboard from a cruise ship“, a regional government statement said.
Spanish media reported that three other people were injured in the accident. All the victims are thought to be crew members who were conducting an emergency drill.
About 1,400 passengers were on board, but none were involved in the accident.
Thomson Cruises said in a statement: “There have sadly been five crew fatalities and three crew injuries.
“One person has been discharged from hospital and we expect the other two people to be released from hospital imminently. Our thoughts are with the families of those involved.”
The nationality and sex of those who died us still unconfirmed, but the regional government statement said the injured were all men, two aged 30 and another, a Greek national, aged 32.
In 2010 two passengers died when the ship, then named the Louis Majesty, was hit by freak waves in the Mediterranean.