Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

More than 100 injured when Caribbean cruise ship lists at sea
07-20-2006

MIAMI, USA (AFP): A cruise ship bound for New York listed sharply to the left after leaving Florida's Port Canaveral, sending people and furniture sliding dangerously and injuring more than 100 people on board, rescue officials said. The Crown Princess was returning to New York from a nine-day cruise in the Caribbean.

"We have 102 victims transported to hospitals," Brevard County Fire Rescue spokesman Orlando Dominguez told AFP late Tuesday.

There were no deaths in the accident, he added, but two of the injured were in serious condition. A girl had a deep cut in the leg and another person was badly injured in the chest.

"There are also numerous reports of injuries such as cuts, bruises and fractures," Dominguez said.

He said the ship had returned to Port Canaveral, where the injured were taken to hospitals.

The accident occurred 11 miles (17 kilometers) offshore, shortly after the 3,000-passenger Crown Princess left port Tuesday afternoon, US Coast Guard spokesman James Judge said in Miami.

The ocean liner listed sharply to port (left) setting people and object in violent motion and emptying the swimming pools, tsunami-style, onto the decks.

"I see the water coming out of the pools slowly," said passenger Al Limani. "The ship actually tilted all the way down... People were all sliding, hitting the glass... Everybody was panicking, everybody was crying. It looked like the ship was going down."

Judge said there were no reports of anybody having fallen off the ship.

He said Coast Guard cutters escorted the ship back to port after determining it could still navigate and found that the vessel had steering problems. He did not say whether the problems were the cause or the consequence of the accident.

Launched only last month, the 113,000-tonne Crown Princess was the star ship of Princess Cruises. Immediately after the accident the US company canceled the vessel's scheduled run and arranged for ambulances and emergency equipment to meet the injured on shore.

"We deeply regret this incident and are doing everything we can to make our passengers as comfortable as possible under these difficult circumstances," the cruise line said in a statement.