Carnival Ship Worker Falls Overboard After Strong Winds Collapse Structure
Officials with the United States Coast Guard revealed there was no sign of the missing BAE Systems employee who fell overboard from the Carnival Cruise ship Triumph after strong winds caused a structure he was in to collapse.
The cruise ship was in a Mobile, Ala., shipyard run by BAE after an engine fire stranded the ship and several thousand passengers in the Gulf of Mexico for four days in February. The ship was scheduled to receive repairs.
While the ship was in the dock, winds reaching 60 mph made the ship to break free of its restraints, causing the cruise ship to go crashing into an adjoining dock.
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Members of the Coast Guard were able to recover an unidentified man who had fallen into the water, but officials said that another man was still missing as the search continued. The port has a strong current and that some areas are nearly fifty feet deep, BAE spokesman John Measell said in a statement.
This is the most recent incident involving a major cruise line and the series of mishaps in the industry has caused U.S. lawmakers to introduce a "Cruise Ship Passenger Bill of Rights."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, is leading the charge against the cruise industry by having them pledge to voluntarily follow a set of industry guidelines that focus on passenger's rights.
He also asked the International Maritime Organization to look into various cruise lines to determine if the cruise companies are following existing guidelines both domestically and internationally.
"Cruise ships, in large part operating outside the bounds of United States enforcement, have become the Wild West of the travel industry, and it's time to rein them in before anyone else gets hurt," Schumer said in a recent statement.
"This bill of rights, based on work we've done with the airline industry, will ensure that passengers aren't forced to live in third world conditions or put their lives at risk when they go on vacation," he added.
