Cruise Ship Crew Fatality

[jstducky]

I just got this breaking news in my inbox...

 

 

Crew Members Killed By Haz Mat Exposure On Cruise Ship

 

 

 

POSTED: 10:05 am PDT September 2, 2005

UPDATED: 10:40 am PDT September 2, 2005

 

 

LOS ANGELES -- Three workers have died after being exposed to a methane gas leak about the cruise ship "Monarch of the Sea," according to NBC4.

 

Fire officials say a five-gallon container of raw sewage spilled in the ship's lower levels while the workers were performing routine maintenance aboard the ship.

 

Melissa Kelley of LA City Fire Department told the station there were 10 victims -- three fatalities and seven injuries. Two physicians who went to the aid of the stricken workers are among the injured, Kelley said.

 

Kelley said no vacationers or passengers were injured and the ship has been evacuated.

 

Firefighters responded around 9:15 a.m. to the ship, which is operated by Royal Caribbean and sails from the Port of Los Angeles.

[divaofdisney]

omg- this is horrible- I hope everyone hurt will be ok. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who died. This is a terrible trajedy.

[glen tev]

It's also ironic of how many people in past post smelled heavy sewage on the Monarch.I actually saw one person get torn apart on a message board because she complained about the smell on one of her cruises.Geez maybe there was something to it?ok i'm sorry your only supposed to say good things here about the mighty RCCL.

[rubrrick]

Just got off the Monarch.

I was just getting in our cab at the dock when the first fire truck was arriving on the scene. By the time we reached an area at LAX we heard the news. Very sad. A friend had a cabin amidship on deck 10 and he told me that he could smell something like raw sewage when on his balcony. He said that the smell was slight. Also overheard people on decks 3 and 2 complaining of unusaul smells from time to time. I don't believe that any of the complaints had anything to do with the accident.

 

Rick

[jstducky]

Wow. I guess its lucky that most of the pax were already off the ship at the time.

 

Glad you made it home safe and hope you had a wonderful cruise!

 

I see you're going on Jewel soon, you'll love her!

[rubrrick]

Wow. I guess its lucky that most of the pax were already off the ship at the time.

 

Glad you made it home safe and hope you had a wonderful cruise!

 

I see you're going on Jewel soon, you'll love her!

 

What is interesting is that I was visiting with the Captain within a half hour of the incident, and at that point he had no knowledge of a problem. As I understand from reading news reports, that a raw sewage pipe ruptured and allowed about 5 gallons of material to spill creating the methane gas that killed 3 crewmembers, and injured others.

It will be interesting to see what tests will be done on the piping system to make sure that this will not happen in the future.

 

Rick

[Char]

Actually it wasn't methane! Here is a later article.

 

 

Methane leak kills three cruise workers

 

TIM MOLLOY

 

Associated Press

 

 

LOS ANGELES - Three members of a cruise ship crew were killed by toxic sewer gas Friday as they repaired a waste pipe aboard the ship that had just returned to the Port of Los Angeles.

 

No passengers were injured, but 19 other crew members from Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas were examined for possible exposure to the toxic gas, authorities said.

 

Passengers were leaving the ship at the time of the incident, the company said.

 

Officials first identified the gas as methane but later determined it was hydrogen sulfide, which occurs in sewage, said Barbara Yu, a supervising hazardous-materials specialist for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

 

The three crew members probably died within 30 seconds of encountering the gas, Yu said.

 

"It deadens your sense of smell so you don't even smell it," she said.

 

The incident occurred after the ship returned from a cruise with about 2,500 passengers and 850 crew members, said city Fire Department Battalion Chief Lou Roupoli. The ship makes regular trips down Mexico's Pacific coast.

 

Royal Caribbean said crew members were replacing a section of pipe connected to the ship's sewage system. The broken line expelled about five gallons of raw sewage and an unknown amount of gas in a propeller shaft tunnel, Roupoli said.

 

Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Tony Migliorini said the repair crew could have worn special masks but they usually are not required for such operations.

 

Fire officials said the repair was being done in an isolated, enclosed space and that most of those who later reported feelings nauseated had not been in the space but decided that they wanted to be checked out.

 

The ship, which has primarily Norwegian officers, has crew members from all over the world.

 

Royal Caribbean said the Coast Guard and local authorities were immediately notified and that the cruise line "will fully assist in the investigation of the incident."

 

Passenger Yvonne Powers of Sacramento said she was about to disembark with her daughter when she saw men in hazardous-materials protective gear going downstairs.

 

"Nobody said anything to us," Powers said.

 

Later, after they had left the ship, there was a public address announcement that there had been a mishap and that "we've got it under control," she said.

 

The 14-year-old Monarch of the Seas is based in Los Angeles harbor and registered in the Bahamas. The ship had been scheduled to depart later Friday on a cruise to the Mexican port of Ensenada. It wasn't immediately clear if it would leave as planned."

[joyceyw]

Actually it wasn't methane! Here is a later article.

 

 

Char - Thanks for posting the updated/correct info. both here and on the original thread on this subject. Early news reports here in LA were sketchy at times. Originally it was reported the Monarch would not sail today, then they had to retract their earlier report and that the Monarch would infact sail just much later.

[GMCOLT]

I can say this: It sounds like the crew was servicing sewage related issues. I have benn in safety and health for 25 years including 12 with OSHA. There is a procedure for this that includes testing the air using an instrument that costs around $1500. OSHA calls it confined space entry. tTe Navy calls it gas free engineering. There is more to this than a 5 gallon spill. Where I work now, yesterday there was break in a sewer line and our meter did not even register.

In my opinion, this tragic event was preventible.

[IKE]

My prayers go out to the Families of the Crew Members killed in this accident.

I just heard about it this evening on the news. Wishing a speedy recovery to those other people taken ill also.

[MikeZigler]

thats funny because when i worked at rccl

 

a girl told me about how there was horrible raw sewege smell coming from her bathroom, and made her throw up, but the crew ignored her for hours and finally gave her another room the next day.

 

its funny because this was months ago, when everyone ignored her complaints. now theyre dead.