Royal Caribbean Worldwide’s Quantum of the Seas inadvertently dropped a lifeboat throughout what seems to have been crew coaching or tendering operations on Thursday, December 1, 2022.
Video footage and pictures shared by way of social media present the second of the accident, in addition to the following aftermath with a broken lifeboat.
Lifeboat Goes Overboard
A startling video from Quantum of the Seas reveals the ship’s quantity 12 lifeboat, on the port facet of the vessel, detaching from its davits and falling overboard, aft-first, into the water and slowly drifting astern of the cruise ship on the afternoon of Thursday, December 1.
The davits for 2 different lifeboats had been prolonged, hanging these boats out over the facet, however quantity 12’s davits had been nonetheless within the vertical place, having solely been partially repositioned from their at relaxation and locked place on the time the lifeboat fell.
Because it fell, the rescue craft hit the deck of the cruise ship, earlier than falling over the facet and into the water. Because it settled into the water, the bow of the lifeboat additionally struck the facet of the cruise ship.
The lifeboat was retrieved, and pictures clearly present massive dents and cracks on the starboard aft nook of the lifeboat, in addition to injury to the fiberglass underside of the lifeboat. The rescue craft was in a position to be firmly secured in place aboard the cruise ship in its regular place.
No accidents had been reported as a result of incident, and it’s extremely unlikely anybody was aboard the rescue craft on the time, which might be a gross violation of security procedures.
One crew member is seen on deck on the time the lifeboat falls, holding a information rope of some kind, however shortly releases the rope and backs away because the lifeboat is clearly uncontrolled.
Drill or Tendering?
Whereas cruise ship crew members conduct frequent coaching and security drills involving muster stations and lifeboats, this incident doesn’t seem to have been throughout a coaching process.
There are not any teams of crew members assembled on the deck, as there could be if lifeboat procedures had been being defined or demonstrated on the time.
Learn Extra: Cruise Ship Lifeboats – How Are They Examined?
Moreover, as a result of the lifeboat shortly drifts astern slightly than bobbing on the place it was dropped, it’s clear that Quantum of the Seas continues to be transferring ahead, although slowly, on the time the lifeboat indifferent.
Quantum of the Seas is crusing a 10-night roundtrip South Pacific itinerary from Brisbane, Australia, and was visiting Thriller Island in Vanuatu on the day of the incident.
Thriller Island is a tender port, which means that small boats are required to ferry visitors from the cruise ship to small docks or piers as they debark the ship to take pleasure in time ashore.
It’s not uncommon for cruise ships to make use of their very own lifeboats for this function, as many small port communities shouldn’t have ample ferry boats to satisfy the demand when a big cruise ship visits. To expedite tendering, the lifeboats for use will typically be readied shortly earlier than the ship arrives at anchor for the port of name.
As soon as the cruise ship is at relaxation for tendering, the lifeboats would have been totally lowered into the water for visitors to board utilizing a gangway between the cruise ship and the lifeboat, which the lifeboat utilizing thrusters and being tied off to take care of an in depth, protected place for embarkation and debarkation.
Thriller Island is itself uninhabited, and is two-thirds of a mile (one kilometer) south of Aneityum Island, which has a inhabitants of slightly below 1,000 individuals.
For comparability, the Quantum-class cruise ship can host 4,180 passengers at double occupancy, and as many as 4,905 visitors when totally booked, together with the 1,500 officers and crew members on board.
No Delays Reported
Friends onboard Quantum of the Seas report that the traces had been a bit longer for tendering to Thriller Island, however there seems to have been no important delay to the ship’s itinerary.
For the reason that port time at Thriller Island was to have been 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., that allowed loads of time for the lifeboat to be retrieved and secured earlier than the cruise ship continued on its manner.
Quantum of the Seas will end out its itinerary with a day at sea on Friday, and in a single day name on Port Vila, Vanuatu, from Saturday to Sunday, two addition days at sea, and can return to Brisbane on Wednesday, December 7.
