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Cruise Ship Italy

January 14, 2012 by · Comments Off on Cruise Ship Italy 

Cruise Ship ItalyCruise Ship Italy, Divers searched the submerged part of a luxury cruise liner that went aground off Italy’s coast in case any of 70 people unaccounted for might be trapped inside, a coast guard official said Saturday, as passengers described a delayed and terrifying evacuation.

Three bodies were recovered from the sea after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the tiny island of Giglio near the coast of Tuscany late Friday, tearing a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in its hull and sending in a rush of water.

One of the victims was a Peruvian crew member, a diplomat from the South American country said, adding that a Peruvian woman was also missing. The ANSA new agency identified the other two fatalities as French passengers, but didn’t cite a source.

Passengers described a scene reminiscent of “Titanic”, saying they escaped the ship by crawling along upended hallways, desperately trying to reach safety as the lights went out and plates and glasses crashed. Helicopters whisked some survivors to safety, others were rescued by private boats in the area, and witnesses said some people jumped from the ship into the dark, cold sea.

The ship was lying virtually flat off Giglio’s coast, its starboard side submerged in the water and the huge gash showing clearly on its upturned hull.

Passengers complained the crew failed to give instructions on how to evacuate and once the emergency became clear, delayed lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many of them to be released.

Carnival Corp., which owns the cruise line that the ship belongs to, didn’t address the allegations in a statement it issued.

Cruise Ship Stranded

November 10, 2010 by · Comments Off on Cruise Ship Stranded 

Cruise Ship Stranded, (AFP) – Dozens of sailors stranded for weeks in Canada after their cruise ship was seized over unpaid debts have returned to Russia while the ship is to be sold, a Russian embassy official said Tuesday.

The Russian owner of the Lyubov Orlova is “frantically” looking for a buyer in order to avoid it being auctioned off by Canadian authorities at a cut rate to pay back a 250,000-dollar debt owed to a Canadian company that had chartered it, the official said.

The Lyubov Orlova’s 51 crew were stuck in Saint John’s, Newfoundland since September 25. Thirty-four of them returned home to Russia on Sunday.

Canadian media said the ship was sold to a Norwegian company, but neither the Russian embassy nor the Canadian charter company would confirm it. Regardless, the debts would have to be paid in full before it is released.

A lawyer for charter company Cruise North Expeditions, Isabelle Pillet, said the company had paid the ship’s owner in advance for summer adventure tours of northern Labrador, which did not occur.

The ship’s crew is also claiming four months of unpaid wages in a Canadian court. Those who remained aboard the docked ship stayed to upkeep the vessel.

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