RSOE EDIS - Situation Update No. 1 : France - Giant Wave Impact

RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service Budapest, Hungary RSOE EDIS ALERTMAIL

Situation Update No. 1 Posted:2010-03-03, 19:02:39 [UTC] Ref.no.: GW-20100303-25190-FRA Situation Update No. 1 On 2010-03-04 at 03:44:13 [UTC] Event: Giant Wave Impact Location: France Provence-Alpes-Cóte d Azur Near Marseilles Number of Deads: 2 person(s) Number of Injured: 14 person(s) Situation: Two people were killed and 14 injured when massive waves slammed into a cruise ship carrying some 2,000 people in the western Mediterranean Wednesday, the ship's owners said. The freak waves smashed windows in the Louis Majesty, the ship's Cypriot owners, Louis Cruises, said in a statement. "Louis Cruises regrets to announce that its Maltese-flagged cruise ship, MV Louis Majesty, while sailing from Barcelona to Genoa was hit by abnormal waves. "As a result, the windows in a public area on deck 5 on the forward part of the vessel smashed resulting in the fatal injury of two passengers of German and Italian nationality while 14 more passengers suffered light injuries." "The vessels medical team is already providing all possible care to the injured passengers," Louis Cruises said in the statement, released in Cyprus. Spanish news reports said one of the injured was a 62-year-old woman who was in serious condition with both her legs broken. The captain rerouted the ship to the Spanish port of Barcelona, where it docked late Wednesday. Spanish police coordoned off the port area, where several ambulances were waiting to evacuate the dead and injured. "Louis Cruises extends its sincere condolences to the families of the two victims and its full support to the injured passengers while expressing its deep sorrow for the incident," the statement said. "The ship was on a 12-day cruise from the ports of Genoa and Marseilles in the western Mediterranean calling at Tangiers, Casablanca, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Cadiz, Cartagena, Barcelona and was due to return to Genoa tomorrow March 4th 2010. "She is carrying 1,350 passengers and 580 crew members." A spokeswoman for the Barcelona port authority said the vessel would continue to Genoa after evacuating the victims. The 200-metre-(660-foot)-long, 41,000-tonne Louis Majesty has 732 cabins. Please DO NOT reply to this message: replies may be treated as errors and result in your subscription being deleted. If you have trouble or other queries, send email to havaria@rsoe.hu RSOE EDIS is operated by the National Association of Radio-Distress Signalling and Infocommunications (RSOE), Budapest, Hungary. Because of the complexity of this system and its dependence on other systems, we cannot be responsible for delays or failures in forwarding or transmission. You're receiving this AlertMail because you subscribed for the service. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Contact: havaria@rsoe.hu