Cruise Ship Accident Lawyer Blog

Miami Ship Accident News UPDATE: Russia Riverboat Accident Death Toll Soars to 104

July 11, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL— July 14, 2011 – The death toll in the Russian riverboat accident that occurred along the Volga River has risen from 55 confirmed deaths to 104 deaths, 20 of whom were children. The Moscow Times reported that the recent boat sinking is being regarded as the worst on record in the past three decades.

According to the Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, it took only three minutes for the seemingly corroded ship “Bulgaria” to sink with 208 people on board, 58 more than the maximum passenger capacity permits. Search and rescue missions continue for 25 victims that remained missing and were feared dead following the river disaster.

As of July 13, 95 of the victims who died in the ship accident had been identified. While a crew member that survived the ship wreck argued that the boat capsized as a result of a two-meter wave, the Federal Meteorological Service contested such allegations, maintaining that the waves were not that high and could not have caused such a catastrophe.

Meanwhile, two people have been arrested and charged in connection with the Russian boating accident. Those two people included Svetlana Inyakina, the manager of the company that rented the ship out, as well as Yakov Ivashov, a senior inspector employed by the River Register’s local office. The River Register is the government agency responsible for upholding safety within the river transport industry.

According to the Miami cruise ship injury attorneys of Gerson & Schwartz, it is often difficult to hold ship owners liable for negligent acts that can pose dangers to both passengers and ship workers. To prevent future accidents from occurring and causing harm to passengers and crew members alike, changes must be made to the river transport and cruise ship industries.

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.

Miami Boating Accident News: Fishing Boat Sinks Off Mexican Coast; At Least 1 Dead, 7 Missing

July 6, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL— July 6, 2011 – At least one person is dead and seven remain missing following an unfortunate boating accident that happened in the Sea of Cortez on July 3, 2011. According to information provided by the Los Angeles Times, a fishing boat occupied by 43 people, including 27 American tourists and 16 Mexican crew members, capsized during a violent storm off the coast of Mexico.

Mexican Navy personnel continue to search the waters off Baja California in an attempt to recover seven people who remained missing following the fishing boat accident. Mexican officials told reporters that 35 of the accident victims either swam miles to the shore or were rescued by fishing vessels navigating the area after the boat sank.

A spokesperson for the Mexican Navy contended search and rescue crews were utilizing planes, helicopters, and vessels to probe the area where the sport fishing boat sank. Navy personnel were also apparently searching for survivors from ashore. Thus far, local authorities have recovered the body of one man involved in the boat sinking.
According to David Levine, who was aboard the vessel when severe weather conditions caused it to capsize, “Everybody jumped into the water… a lot of people went in with no life vest.” Nevertheless, Mexican authorities contended the search would continue on the basis that those lost at sea have a higher chance of survival due to warm water and air temperatures. Crews from the U.S. Coast Guard’s San Diego Sector joined search and rescue missions on July 4.

Two Crash Victims Hospitalized Following Miami-Dade Jet Ski Accident

July 5, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL— July 5, 2011 – A collision involving two personal watercrafts (PWC) landed two people in the hospital on June 3, 2011. WSVN reports stated that the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is conducting a full investigation into the jet ski accident, which occurred off Surfside in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
According to Kelli Denis, who witnessed the jet ski crash, “All of a sudden we see two jetskis flying across– like, really fast. And, they stopped… And they were on the shore and we thought that they were stuck. So, my dad and my friend, Kevin, went over there to see if they were alright.” Denis called 911 following the injurious jet ski accident.

FWC investigators contended the jet ski collision involved two personal watercrafts; one being operated by a woman, the other by a man. Reports indicated both accident victims were flown to Jackson Memorial Hospital to be treated for injuries sustained in the jetboat crash. While the male victim did not appear to suffer life-threatening injuries in the wreck, the female victim was taken to the hospital’s trauma unit for treatment.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), 736 boating accident fatalities were recorded during the year 2009. About 22 percent of recreational boating accidents involved personal watercrafts (PWC).

Miami Boat Accident News: Parasailing Death in Tampa Bay Area Spurs Calls for Industry Reform

June 30, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL— June 30, 2011 – On June 27, 2011, a South Carolina man became the second man to die in a parasailing accident in the Tampa Bay region in less than 10 months time, The Tampa Tribune reported. While Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) spokesman Gary Morse said the 31-year-old accident victim, who fell from the sky after the boat engine abruptly cut out, appeared to make a relatively soft landing on the water and even waved to signal that he was alive following the plunge, U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Peter Martin suggested that witness reports were inconsistent.
Reports indicated David Sieradzki and his wife Stephanie decided to travel from their home in South Carolina to Florida, so they could go parasailing. The company they chose to parasail with, Fun N Sun Parasail, is based on Anna Maria Island’s Bradenton Beach in Manatee County, Florida.

David and Stephanie Sieradzki boarded the Fun N Sun Parasail-operated parasail boat, named “Almost Heaven,” on the afternoon of June 27. There were a total of six boat passengers and two crew members aboard the vessel when its lower propeller allegedly experienced mechanical difficulties, causing the boat to lose speed and simultaneously causing Mr. Sieradzki, who was parasailing solo at the time, to fall approximately 800 feet from the sky.
Mrs. Sieradzki’s father, Bud Hazel apparently talked to reporters via telephone, relaying what his daughter said of the fatal accident. “He got up in the air, and then the boat engine died, and Dave came down… And they had to pull him into the boat. By the time he got into the boat, he was dead. They tried 20 to 30 minutes to revive him, but he was gone,” Hazel contended.
What caused the parasailer to die remains unknown, though autopsy results are pending and investigations into the Florida parasailing accident are ongoing.

The fatal accident spurred parasailing safety advocates such as ex-parasail operator and Parasail Safety Council chairman Mark McCulloh to stress the need for improvements in the parasailing industry. “After all these incidents, I can’t believe we haven’t gotten smarter as an industry… Their argument is, we don’t want the government snooping in our business.”
To protect future parasailers from potentially harmful (or sometimes even deadly) events on the water, towline and equipment inspections should be mandated, just as maximum wind speed and altitude constraints should be implemented, McCulloh told reporters.

According to the non-profit Parasail Safety Council, more than 380 parasailing accidents occurred between 1990 and September of 2009, claiming the lives of 22 accident victims throughout the nation.

Miami Prosecutors Indict Mich. Man Who Ran Haitian Residential Center on Child Sex Tourism Charges

June 29, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL— June 29, 2011 – An American man who was accused of having unlawful sexual relations with at least eight impoverished Haitian children at the residential center that he set up in the Caribbean nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince pleaded not guilty to four counts of child sex tourism on June 23, 2011. According to information provided by the Associated Press, the defendant, a 66-year-old man from Brighton, Michigan, had been detained since Miami police arrested and charged him on May 8.
Matthew Andrew Carter set up the Morning Star residential facility in the mid-nineties to provide poor Haitian boys, who were either orphans or had parents who could not afford to care for them in a sufficient manner, with a place to live, food to eat, schooling and other living necessities.

Carter, who would travel back and forth between Haiti and the United States, reportedly rented several different homes to run his residential center in over the years. At the time that the alleged child sex tourist was arrested in Miami, there were 14 male students permanently living at the Morning Star Center and three others who spend their weekends there.
Reports indicated Carter would offer the students gifts or money if they performed illicit sexual acts on him. The criminal complaint alleges that Carter would threaten to stop supporting the boys who refused to submit to his sexual demands, and sometimes even physically abuse them, either with his fist or a stick.

Four boys who were living at the Port-au-Prince residential center at the time of his arrest told reporters that Carter would lock those who rejected his demands outside “with the dogs,” occasionally shooting his firearm in the air. One of the boys who claimed to have been sexually assaulted said that such abuse started when he was 10 years of age, ending only six years later when the student refused to be subjected to any more sexual exploitation. In response to the boy’s refusal to partake in any more illegal sexual activity, Carter in turn refused to buy the student any clothes, shoes or reading material.
According to Miami U.S. Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer, “This defendant preyed on innocent Haitian children living in severely depressed conditions, making his conduct particularly deplorable…Rather than using Morning Star as he promised — to administer aid and provide sanctuary to needy children — he used the center to manipulate, abuse and sexually exploit them.”

While none of the young sexual assault victims have been identified, the Miami child sex tourism case is ongoing. Reports noted that if the defendant is ultimately found guilty of all four counts of child sex tourism, he could spend up to 15 years in prison for the first count ONLY. The additional three counts could land him in prison for up to thirty years each—bring his potential prison sentence up to about 105 years.
The U.S. Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) describes child sex tourists as “individuals that travel to foreign countries to engage in sexual activity with children.”

Miami Boating Safety News: Coast Guard Cracks Down on Drunk Boaters in Light of July 4th Weekend

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

MIAMI, FL— June 27, 2011- In light of the upcoming July 4^th holiday, The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) once again coordinated Operation Dry Water, in which U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) officers around the nation spent the weekend of July 24-26, 2011 cracking down on boating under the influence (BUI). According to information provided by the Coast Guard, Operation Dry Water was first launched in 2009 as a means of targeting drunk boaters to in turn cut recreational boating accidents and fatalities.
Coast Guard statistics suggest approximately 17 percent of all recreational boating deaths (about 300 boat accidents and 124 fatalities each year) are attributed to the consumption of alcohol while boating on the water. Furthermore, it is estimated that a boater who has a blood alcohol level above .10 percent is about 10 times as likely to suffer fatal injuries in a boating accident than a boat operator who did not consume any alcohol.

The USCG further noted that there are many factors that can make a drunk boater and his/her passengers even more susceptible to injury or death. First off, alcohol is known to hinder the boater’s “judgment, balance, vision, and reaction time,” while also making the operator more prone to fatigue and vulnerable to the adverse effects of cold water immersion. Secondly, physical stressors known to heighten the affects of alcohol—“sun, wind, noise, vibration, and motion”—can also pose dangers for boaters.

In 2010, NASBLA collected reports from 50 states participating in Operation Dry Water and found that 2,708 Coast Guard officers took to nationwide waters to strictly enforce BUI laws. That year, officers contacted 66,472 boaters and made 322 drunk boating arrests. Additionally, officers issued 7,522 safety warnings and 4,171 citations for various other boating violations.
Noting that it is not out of the ordinary for many boaters to consider alcohol and boating mutually inclusive during holidays such as Independence Day weekend,
the Miami boat accident attorneys of Gerson & Schwartz, P.A. urged those planning to spend any time in the water to heed caution.

NTSB Accident Report: Cell Phone Use Contributed to Fatal Philly Duck Boat Crash

June 23, 2011 | by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

MIAMI, FL—June 23, 2011 Nearly one year after a Ride the Ducks tour boat crashed into a barge on the Delaware River off of Philadelphia, resulting in the deaths of two Hungarian tourists, the National Transportation Safety Board began releasing their investigatory findings into the fatal Duck boat crash. According to information provided by NBC Philadelphia, one key NTSB finding was that prior to the boat collision, as the Duck boat was stalled on the river, the mate who was operating the barge was talking on his cell phone.
On July 7, 2010, a Ride the Ducks tour boat stalled in the water off Penn’s Landing approximately 20 minutes before colliding with a barge. A total of 35 passengers and two crew members were thrown into the shipping channel as a result of the boat wreck. Two Hungarian students identified as 16-year-old Dora Schwendtner and 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem were killed in the Philadelphia Duck boat crash.

Upon conducting a full probe into the Philly Duck boat accident, NTSB investigators concluded that not only did the barge’s first mate fail to appoint another crew member to maintain a lookout for any potential dangers in the water below, he was also on his cell phone handling a family emergency at the time.
NTSB investigators also found that although initial reports suggested the Duck boat stalled as a result of an engine fire that broke out, investigations revealed that no fire was sparked prior to the collision.

Whether an individual is operating a car or operating a boat, handheld devices have been linked to countless accidents around the nation. According to Distraction.gov, the official U.S. government website for distracted driving, driver distractions can be considered anything from using a cell phone to changing the radio station or talking to a passenger from behind the wheel.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics suggested about 1 in 5 traffic accidents that occurred during the year 2009 involved distracted driving. Crashes involving distracted drivers resulted in the deaths of 5,474 accident victims and left 448,000 others injured.

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.