A Harmony of the Seas cruise ship accident left one crew member dead and four others with serious injuries after a lifeboat detached from the vessel and fell 35 feet into the water at the French port of Marseille.
The accident happened during a safety drill while the ship, the world's largest cruise liner, was docked at the port Tuesday morning, the Royal Caribbean said on its blog. Five crew members were on board the lifeboat when it broke free and crashed into the water, the Daily Mail reported.
The ship was on an eight-day cruise around the Mediterranean Sea and had left Rome on Sept. 8.
Royal Caribbean issued two Twitter posts acknowledging the accident Tuesday.
Marseille city's prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux said a similar drill, which includes safely landing lifeboats into the sea, is carried out every week on the ship, according to the Daily Mail. Tarabeux said that an investigation has been opened to find out why the cable or the fastenings holding the lifeboat gave way.
Nautilus International, the trade union and professional organization representing more than 22,000 maritime professionals in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Switzerland, called for "radical new thinking" in light of the lifeboat training accident, citing other training incidents.
"We are deeply shocked to see yet another lifeboat accident leading to loss of life and injuries, and express our sympathies to all affected by the incident," Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson said in a statement.
"The dangers associated with lifeboat drills are well known, and there is now extensive evidence to show the scale of fatalities arising from accidents. In the light of this, Nautilus has consistently advised members not to be in lifeboats when they are being raised or lowered, unless strops are in place."
Harmony of the Seas is about 1,190 feet long, roughly as long as four soccer fields, according to the BBC News. The cruise ship holds more than 8,000 passengers and crew and is as high as 25 stories.
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