12 Die in Queen Mary 2 Gangway Accident

Dan · November 15, 2003

From yahoo

ST. NAZAIRE, France - A gangway collapsed Saturday as dozens of people were crossing it to board the Queen Mary 2, the world's largest passenger ship, killing 12 people and injuring 32 others, fire officials said.

The victims were family members visiting workers involved in construction of the nearly finished, 21-story-tall ocean liner, local officials said.

The relatives, who had been given permission to visit Saturday, had crowded on to the access gangway from the dock to the ship, said Herve Malherbe, chief aid at the Loire-Atlantic prefecture. It was not immediately known how high up the gangway was or why it collapsed.

Ten of the injured were in serious condition, according to the Operational Center Fire and Rescue Center. France-Info radio reported that children were among the victims.

The Queen Mary 2 is currently in dry dock at this Atlantic coastal shipyard, where it remains under construction. Once completed, it will feature a planetarium, 22 elevators and the world's largest floating library.

The 150,000-ton trans-Atlantic liner recently finished its second test run. The first was in September.

Dozens of firefighters and rescue workers rushed to the scene of the accident, setting up medical units to treat the injured.

Once completed, the $800 million QM2 ? the world's longest, tallest and most expensive passenger ship ? will join an illustrious list of massive passenger ships.

The Queen Elizabeth 2 ? whose trans-Atlantic route will be taken over by the new ship in April ? was built in 1967; the original Queen Mary was launched in 1934 and is now a hotel in Long Beach, California.

In sheer size, the QM2 tops them all. It's 377 yards long and 79 yards high ? or about the height of a 21-story building. It will weigh more than twice the QE2's 70,000 tons.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s Voyager-class ships, about 138,000 tons, are currently the largest cruise ships in service.

The ship is being built by Alstom Marine's Chantiers de l'Atlantique for the British ship operator Cunard Line, which is owned by Carnival Corp.

Some 800 companies, mostly French, have been involved in the construction.

The QM2 has generated a lot of interest, with Chantiers de l'Atlantique saying it had received at least 150,000 letters from people asking to come aboard for a look.