Cruise Ship Accidents/Incidents

BSO Officials Arrest 2 in Connection With Alleged Rape of 15-Year-Old Girl Aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship

January 5, 2012 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL—Officials from the Broward Sheriff’s Office charged two Brazilian males, one of whom is 15 years old, with lewd and lascivious battery in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl aboard Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas cruise ship. According to information provided by NBC Miami, BSO and FBI detectives awaited the ship’s return to Port Everglades on Jan. 3, after Royal Caribbean officials reported the apparent cruise rape case to them.

Reports indicated an unidentified 15-year-old girl was at Fuel, a teen club aboard the Allure of the Seas cruise ship, when she met a teenage boy who invited her to his room on the basis that he was holding a party and she could meet friends there.

Upon entering the 15-year-old boy’s cabin, however, she evidently realized there was no party being held there whatsoever. In fact, the only other individual there was 20-year-old Luiz Scavone, who swiftly showed her to the bed and began attempting to disrobe her (with the help of the unidentified teen boy) against her will.

Although BSO reports suggested the teen girl told the two male cruise passengers that she had a curfew and needed to leave, they would not allow her to. The Brazilian men allegedly went on to force the young victim to perform oral sex on both of them. They then forced the girl—who alleged said “no” multiple times—to have sex with both of them as well.

Royal Caribbean officials told reporters a “guest care team offered the female guest a variety of assistance, including medical care and counseling.” Authorities arrested both suspects at Port Everglades on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the attack was said to have taken place.

Scavone is reportedly being detained at the Fort Lauderdale-based Main Jail. It was not clear if the teen suspect—whom is being charged as a juvenile—was detained upon being arrested in the cruise rape case.

According to statistics posted on the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) website, the FBI regarded sexual assault as the leading crime reported on cruise ships, accounting for 55 percent of all maritime crimes reported to the bureau.

FBI to Investigate Death of Newborn Baby on Carnival Cruise Ship

October 18, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL—October 18, 2011 – FBI agents are in the midst of an investigation into the untimely death of a newborn baby aboard the Carnival Dream cruise ship on Oct. 12. According to information provided by Florida Today, Florida-based cruise ship company Carnival Cruise Lines reported the unfortunate discovery to Dutch authorities on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, whom subsequently took custody of the newborn’s lifeless body and detained the infant’s mother for questioning.

Awaited by a fleet of FBI agents, the Carnival Dream cruise ship returned to Port Canaveral in Florida on Oct. 15. As searches were being conducted in two of the cruise ship’s guest cabins, FBI agents went on to question both cruise passengers and ship crew members who may have had any information concerning the mysterious cruise ship death.

Dutch officials in St. Maarten have since released the newborn’s mother, whom was merely identified as a 20-year-old woman living in the United States, from their custody.

According to FBI Special Agent Dave Couvertier, “Due to the international and jurisdictional aspects involved with this incident, we are still working on obtaining facts and specific details about the matter… No one has been charged as we are still working on obtaining facts and gathering any available evidence.”

A full investigation into the Carnival cruise ship death was expected to be underway.

Miami Cruise Ship Accident Attorney News: Engine Room Fire Results in Deaths of 2 Norwegian Cruise Ship Workers

September 20, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL—September 20, 2011 – Norwegian police officials appeared to believe an engine room explosion was to blame for the blaze that was ignited aboard a Hurtigruten cruise ship on Sept. 15, claiming the lives of two crew members. According to information provided by the Denver Post, the deadly cruise fire spurred the evacuation of hundreds of cruise ship passengers and also caused three rescuers to suffer minor wounds.

While police suspected that a blast in the engine room of the MS Nordlys, which is operated by Norwegian cruise ship company Hurtigruten, resulted in the deaths of two cruise employees, a full investigation will be required to confirm such assumptions. According to Ålesund Police operations head Trygve Oedegaard, “Nothing indicates sabotage or points to terror… But, of course, we have to investigate all options.”

Reports indicated that when the MS Nordlys docked in Ålesund, Norway, smoke coming from the ship spread to area buildings, forcing authorities to block off certain portions of the town. Although an excess of 100 cruise ship passengers were initially evacuated from the burning ship and put onto lifeboats, 55 cruise ship workers, along with the remainder of the total 207 passengers, disembarked the vessel in Ålesund.

Two cruise line workers were killed in the engine room fire and nine other crew members suffered various injuries, for which they were hospitalized. Two of the injured cruise employees’ reportedly sustained severe burns as a result of the engine room blaze. A full investigation into the fatal cruise ship fire was expected to be underway.

Miami Cruise Ship Injury Lawyer News: Elderly UK Cruise Ship Passenger Reported Missing From Fred Olsen Cruise

September 15, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL—September 15, 2011 – A cruise ship passenger, whom other vacationers described as a “pleasant elderly British gentleman,” was reported missing from the cruise vessel Balmoral on September 12. The missing passenger was last seen aboard the Fred Olsen Cruise Lines-operated ship on the night of September 11, as it traveled from Stavanger, Norway to its final destination in Southampton, England, the Daily Mail reported.

According to information provided the Daily Mail, a cabin stewardess aboard the UK cruise ship Balmoral reported finding a note suggesting that a passenger may have gone missing on 9/11. It was only after ship crew members carried out a full onboard search to no avail and the cruise liner docked in Southampton that passengers were informed that they would only be permitted to disembark following preliminary missing persons investigations by police officials.

“We were only told what had happened when we arrived in Southampton. It was a very upsetting thing to hear. We had had a fantastic holiday and were just about to disembark and return home when we suddenly were told someone had disappeared… Everyone was shocked. No one knew that it had happened, even though we had been on the ship for more than 36 hours with him missing. It is the sort of thing you read about or see on TV,” an unidentified cruise ship passenger told reporters.

Authorities reportedly boarded the 700-foot Balmoral cruise ship in Southampton and approximately three hours passed before more than 1,000 passengers were given the OK to get off the ship. While authorities did not state if they suspected that the missing elderly man fell overboard, accentually or deliberately, investigations were ongoing.

Statistics provided by the International Cruise Victims Association suggested there have been 165 cruise ship disappearances since 1995. Excluding this particular missing persons case, 12 victims have disappeared at sea since the beginning of the year 2011.

Miami Cruise Ship Accident News: Coast Guard Suspends Search For Missing Passenger Aboard Alaska Cruise

July 27, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL—July 27, 2011 – Authorities from the U.S. Coast Guard on July 23, 2011 called off the search for a California man who was reported missing from a cruise ship less than one day before. According to information provided by 10News, Fallbrook resident Blake Kepley, 20, was traveling in Alaska aboard the Holland America cruise vessel Oosterdam when he went missing on June 22, 2011.

Reports indicated Kepley was last seen aboard the cruise ship Oosterdam, a 7-day Alaskan cruise voyage, at some point between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. on June 22. Kepley’s family members reported him missing at approximately 2:30 p.m., when he failed to meet up with them before disembarking from the ship at a port in Ketchikan. Holland America then reported the missing persons case to Coast Guard officials. Cruise line representatives appeared to believe Kepley may have fallen overboard.

Although the Coast Guard search lasted less than 24 hours, ending at about 3:45 p.m. on June 23, USCG personnel in helicopters and other boats covered a span of nearly 400 miles in an attempt to find the missing cruise ship passenger. The cruise vacation came to an end on June 24.

According to an unidentified passenger who sent 10News an e-mail regarding the missing persons case, “Two passengers, twin sisters, told me they were walking on deck Thursday at 8:15 and saw Blake by the railing. He was kneeling and had his hands in a prayer position, crying. A few minutes later they observed him being carried or dragged off the deck by a man and another young man. They believed that the man was his dad and a brother or cousin.”

Petty Officer 1st Class Lindsey Kirby, Sector Juneau Operations unit controller maintained, “While we have suspended active searching, we encourage anyone who sees anything while transiting though the area to call the Coast Guard… Suspending a case is one of the hardest decisions that we as search and rescuers have to make.”

Recreational boating accident statistics provided by the Coast Guard indicated there were 431 falls overboard, resulting in a total of 188 deaths and 257 injuries, in 2008.

Also, drowning was the leading cause of death related to such boating accidents. During the year 2008, recreational boating accidents resulted in at least 510 drowning deaths.

Miami Cruise Ship Injury News: Pittsburgh Man Molested Child Aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Vessel

July 26, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL—July 26, 2011 – Pittsburgh prosecutors offered a plea agreement on July 20, 2011 to a 72-year-old man who boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with the intention of engaging in illicit sexual activity with children in 2009. According to information provided by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, prosecutors evidently offered the plea deal upon considering the defendant’s age and psychological background, as well as the duration of the said molestation.

Associated Press reports indicated surveillance cameras aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Liberty of the Seas caught ex-chemical engineer Sherwood Stevenson inappropriately touching a 6-year-old boy in a hot tub, only a few days into the Dec. 2009 cruise voyage. Although the young boy managed to escape after a few minutes, Stevenson momentarily fondled another child aboard the ship.

Had it not have been for Stevenson’s plea agreement, pleading guilty to <interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct would have likely landed him in prison for a decade. Stevenson, who was booked into Allegheny County Jail, is expected to spend approximately four years in prison in connection with the cruise ship sexual assault case.

Reports noted that Stevenson is prescribed psychiatric drugs for an unspecified mental illness, which prosecutors seemed to take into account prior to offering him a plea bargain in the child-sex case. Stevenson is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on Nov. 22.

According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics posted on the website for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), 15 percent of sexual assault and rape victims have yet to even reach the age of 12. Overall, 44 percent of victims are under the age of 18, with 29 percent of the total accounting for individuals between the ages of 12 and 17.

Perilous Seas: November Trial to Expose — and Hopefully End — Troubling Cruise Industry Practices on Emergency Care, Say Lawyers at Gerson & Schwartz

July 18, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

Today’s cruise ships are full of surprises. From the almost endless variety of entertainment and leisure activities, to the food and company at dinner, passengers never know what a trip may bring. But one surprise isn’t welcome: cruise ship practices regarding emergency aid for sick or injured passengers. This issue is at the heart of an upcoming trial pitting Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. against a young passenger who became severely disabled after what her family says was a needless delay in getting medical attention. That case — Amaran v Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. (Case No. 04-26948 CA 27) — will begin November 7 in the Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County. But its impact, says cruise ship injury lawyer Philip M. Gerson of the law firm Gerson & Schwartz, will be felt wider, and for a long time to come.

“In the six years we have spent in pre-litigation, the defendants — Royal Caribbean and the firm that manages its fitness centers and spas, Steiner Transocean — have said they have no duty to provide emergency care at sea,” says Gerson, a longtime advocate for cruise ship injury victims. “They’ve said it during hearing after hearing, on transcript after transcript, that there is no duty to provide emergency medical care. We don’t think that’s correct. And with this case, we plan to both publicize and end this dangerous practice. We’re going to help push the cruise ship industry into the 21st century.”
Preetha Amaran, the plaintiff in the upcoming trial, was a 26-year-old medical resident — bright future and life ahead of her — when she collapsed aboard a treadmill on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on March 8, 2004. In a sworn deposition, her mother, who witnessed the event, testified that the fitness center’s director failed to use his training in CRP to render aid, and that, indeed, he failed even to assess the seriousness of the situation. Preetha and her family contend that medical attention was needlessly delayed, resulting in severe brain injury and permanent incapacitation.

“No one disputes that the fitness director did nothing — no CPR, no assessment, no running for the ship’s doctor,” says Gerson. “That is something lawyers for Royal Caribbean and Steiner Transocean have said on the transcripts, too. But that’s okay, the defendants contend, because the case law says cruise ships are under no obligation even to carry doctors. What we plan to show at trial is that they’re improperly extending a very old, out-of-date rule.”

Historically, says Gerson, ships didn’t have to carry doctors because the vessels were alone at sea, with only limited, primitive communications links, so there was no way to have control over what the doctor did. “But times are very different now,” the injury lawyer adds, “with ships carrying advanced technology, like satellites and Internet connections and even videoconferencing.” Just as significantly, Gerson adds, there are more recent laws in place — international maritime regulations that say that ships do need to have an emergency plan and crew members do need to train in CPR. “To say there is no duty to do anything just flies in the face of both maritime law and logic,” the veteran attorney says.

Gerson’s hope is that the Amaran case will clarify what the duty of a cruise ship crew member is. But he also hopes that the trial will help get the word out about industry practices that, he says, are both antiquated and dangerous. Public pressure, the injury lawyer notes, can be an effective way to spur industry-wide changes.

And those changes, says Gerson, are urgently needed: “Nowhere does the cruise industry publicize the fact that if you’re injured, or you become sick, or you have a heart attack on their treadmill, they have no duty at all to come to your assistance. People walk onto a ship expecting a lot of things — entertainment, recreation, a good time. But they never expect that when they need help most, they’re not going to get it.”

Miami Cruise Ship Injury News: Federal Government To Probe SF Cruise Line After String of Norovirus Outbreaks

July 7, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL— July 7, 2011 – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are investigating a cruise line based in San Francisco after yet another norovirus outbreak plagued passengers aboard the Alaska-bound Sea Princess cruise ship. According to information provided by the San Francisco Examiner, there have been more than 350 confirmed cases of the gastrointestinal illness since May 10, 2011.

Reports indicated that a total of four cruise ship norovirus outbreaks were reported over a span of less than two months, causing hundreds of passengers aboard the Sea Princess, which is operated by Princess Cruises, to fall ill.

When the Sea Princess departed on May 10, 44 passengers fell ill. There were 2,049 people aboard the cruise vessel during that trip. The second outbreak was reported on the voyage beginning May 20, leaving 128 out of 2,049 travelers aboard the ship sickened. Then a third outbreak was reported on the Alaska cruise voyage that departed from the Port of San Francisco on May 30, causing 142 of the total 2,128 passengers aboard to suffer from norovirus symptoms.

The final outbreak was reported on the June 19 Alaska cruise trip. A total of 53 passengers were infected in that case. Also, the Princess Cruises-owned Coral Princess vessel was reportedly plagued by a norovirus outbreak this year, though it was not clear how many passengers and/or ship crew members were infected.
Norovirus is an extremely contagious viral infection that causes gastroenteritis. Symptoms of gastroenteritis include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache, fever and chills. Norovirus has been known to cause approximately 50 percent of all gastroenteritis outbreaks, CDC data suggested.

From 2006 to 2010, there were over 80 cruise ship norovirus outbreaks reported.
Karen Candy, a spokesperson for Princess Cruises, suspected that an already–infected passenger caused the most recent outbreak, stating, “In addition to our cleaning procedures, we rely on passengers’ compliance and good hygiene habits… and the two of these must work in tandem to eradicate an outbreak.”

The CDC is investigating the slew of cruise line norovirus outbreaks.

Norwegian Spirit Cruise Ship Passenger Falls Overboard Into Mississippi River

June 21, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL— June 21, 2011 – U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) officials reported that a cruise ship passenger fell overboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Spirit vessel only three hours after the ship departed from a port in New Orleans. According to information provided by Cruise Critic via MSNBC, the NCL cruise ship accident occurred around 8 p.m. on June 19, 2011, as the vessel was passing through the Mississippi River so it could begin its seven-day Western Caribbean cruise voyage.
Though details concerning the ship accident, including the cause of the fall overboard, remained scarce, reports indicated cruise personnel utilized the vessel’s rescue boat to recover the accident victim.

The unidentified passenger that fell overboard was ultimately recovered and received preliminary medical treatment upon boarding the ship for a second time. Cruise line officials reportedly made arrangements for the accident victim to receive additional treatment for his/her unspecified injuries.
According to Coast Guard recreational boating accident statistics, 431 falls overboard were reported during the year 2008. Those falls resulted in 188 deaths and left 257 victims injured. Furthermore, drowning was deemed to be the main cause of death related to such boating accidents. There were 510 drowning deaths reported in connection with recreational boat accidents in 2008.

Cruise Line Showed “Gross Indifference” For Passenger Safety in 2005 Toxic Gas Leak

June 15, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL— June 15, 2011 – A judge found Royal Caribbean Cruises negligent in the case of a September 2005 poisonous gas leak that left three cruise ship crew members dead and 19 others injured, reports NBC Los Angeles. According to Florida’s 11^th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Mark Schumacher, who presided over a lawsuit related to the deadly gas leak, “Royal Caribbean’s actions demonstrated a gross indifference to the life and health of not only the plaintiff but other passengers onboard the Monarch of the Seas when it continued to cruise with measures that allowed poisonous gas exposure to its passengers.”

Reports indicated there were more than 3,400 individuals aboard the Royal Caribbean-owned Monarch of the Seas cruise ship when hydrogen sulfide, a toxic and potentially lethal gas, leaked from some of the vessel’s seemingly corroded engine room pipes.

Monya Wright, a passenger aboard the ship, maintained, “We were never told there was a significant problem on that ship.” Shortly after U.S. Coast Guard officials inspected the ship and emergency personnel removed the bodies of those who died in the toxic gas leak, new passengers boarded and the vessel set sail yet again.

The court ruling stated that Royal Caribbean Cruises “failed to take reasonable measures to prevent exposure” to hydrogen sulfide, which the Los Angeles County Department of Health said has been referred to as a “knockout agent,” due to the fact victims of acute exposure to the deadly gas tend to lose consciousness at an exceptionally fast pace.

The judge further ruled that based on evidence in the case, the cruise company’s actions were “either intentional or constituted gross negligence.”

Bjoern Eidiseen, a former crew member aboard the cruise vessel, noticed that although patches were used to cover holes in some of the engine room pipes, he questioned the safety of the ship and subsequently warned his supervisors. However, his concerns were apparently dismissed and the ship continued on its voyage.

“It was totally crazy… We should have never sailed… The cruise line knew about it and they ignored the danger,” Eidiseen contended. The ruling also set the grounds for Eidiseen, who allegedly lost his job after expressing his concerns over the hazardous engine room pipes, to seek punitive damages in connection with the toxic gas leak. On the other hand, Royal Caribbean seemed to claim the former cruise ship worker was fired because he failed to wear protective equipment upon entering the engine room.

The cruise line, which argued in the past that the allegations were unsubstantiated, and attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed, told NBC LA reporters that safety is their main concern. The cruise ship company did not provide any updated comments on the case.