US senator Bill Nelson has
called for a federal investigation into the event, saying the crew should have
known not to sail the ship into the "heart of a hurricane-force
storm".
"I want the National
(Transportation) Safety Board to come up with answers very quickly and make an
admonition to mariners: when the storm is brewing you don't go out of
port."
There are about 4,500
guests and 1,600 crew on board for what was supposed to be a seven-night cruise
that departed on Saturday, a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman said.
The passengers on board a
cruise ship that ventured into a storm off North Carolina have told of the
"terrifying" moment the vessel was battered by 30ft waves and winds
in excess of 100mph.
The Royal Caribbean ship
Anthem of the Seas, the third largest cruise ship ever built, is making its way
back to New Jersey after the storm shattered glass and toppled furniture,
injuring four people.
Robert Huschka, executive
editor of the Detroit Free Press who was a passenger on the vessel, recounted
seeing pictures of the damage tweeted by fellow passengers.
"The storm system was
far worse than had been anticipated and the crew were struggling to turn the
Anthem into the path of the storm," he wrote.
"I'm not going to lie:
I was terrified, although I did my best to hide it from my wife. The ship
rocked side-to-side, sometimes hanging at an incline longer than seemed safe.
"Large noises came
from within the ship. We heard crew members run through the hallway.
"One mistake I made
was looking on Twitter. There were pictures of flooded hallways and damaged
ceilings. Several panicked passengers had tweeted rumours that the ship was
sinking.
"I didn’t really
believe that. But it certainly added to my anxiety."
The company said in a
statement that the ship's operation was not affected, but concerns about
further rough weather prompted the decision to return to Cape Liberty, New
Jersey, rather than continue on to Port Canaveral, Florida.
No comments:
Post a Comment