Late last month, cruise ship passengers got quite a scare when their vessel made a stop before heading to the French Riviera. On May 31, an explosion at the port of Gibraltar injured several passengers aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.
According to CNN, twelve passengers aboard Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas suffered minor injuries and were treated aboard the ship. A fuel tank on the port exploded and the ship retracted to move away from the dock. Two other passengers were on shore during the explosion, but they were not injured.
Watch this amateur video on YouTube from the explosion:
Cruise ship accidents range anywhere from food poisoning to falling overboard and laws regarding these accidents can be very complex. While incidents such as the explosion are rare, they do occur and it is important that cruise lines have a protocol established to act quickly and with the passengers’ safety in mind. Legislation has been an important step toward cruise ship accident prevention and accountability for cruise lines, but passengers should also be prepared and take several precautions to avoid cruise ship accidents.
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