Travel lawyer voices concern as Crown Princess holiday ship in unexplained ‘lurch’ plans to set sail three days after
Crown Princess holiday ship accident
20/07/2006
Lawyers today voiced extreme concern after cruise ship operator Princess Cruises announced that a brand new 113,000-tonne cruise liner, the Crown Princess, which suddenly lurched during a voyage injuring hundreds of passengers, including dozens of British holidaymakers, was to set sail only 3 days after this serious unexplained incident.
Specialist travel lawyer Clive Garner of law firm Irwin Mitchell said “It seems inconceivable that the travel company is planning to allow this ship to sail so soon after such a serious incident. Whatever caused this huge ship to list so violently must be identified; the seriousness of this incident cannot be ignored with over 4000 people onboard the ship, the chances of serious injury are extremely high”
Nearly 100 passengers had to be taken to hospital, and over 200 were injured, after the Crown Princess vessel heavily listed to starboard about 11 miles off the coast of Florida. The ship, which had been heading to New York, returned to Port Canaveral in Florida and the Britons will be flown to New York today and then will return to the UK.
The Coast Guard Cmdr. James McLaughlin said "We'll look at weather, we'll look at stability issues and we'll look at mechanical issues," however he also questioned why authorities first learned of the trouble not from the captain but from the mother of a passenger who had called her from the ship.
Crown Princess lurch caused chaos
According to an official statement the vessel is due to depart from New York on Saturday 22nd July, just 3 days after the incident which passengers described as leaving the boat ‘looking like a war zone’. People were tipped from swimming pools; windows were smashed, and had people running for the lifeboats.
This is the second such incident in a year. In February a another cruise ship, the Grand Princess which was travelling from Galveston also tipped sharply on its side causing injury to a number of passengers and crew.
Mr Garner concluded “Under the terms of the Athens Convention which governs International travel by sea, compensation is payable to injured passengers without the need to establish fault on the part of a cruise line.
We would appeal to all passengers injured in this incident to seek expert legal advice before accepting any form of compensation.”
Do you have a claim? If you or someone you know has been involved in a holiday ship accident, our travel lawyers can help. Visit our transport disasters section.
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