Posted on 11/15/2003 7:21:49 AM PST by HAL9000
URGENT - 15h44 - Dramatic accident in Saint-Nazaire At least eleven people died Saturday in the collapse of a footbridge of the giant steamer Queen Mary II, in construction with the shipyards of the port.
Queen Mary 2 Gangway Collapses, At Least 11 Dead
ST. NAZAIRE, France -- Officials in France say a gangway has collapsed on the world's largest passenger ship, the Queen Mary 2. At least 11 people have been killed.
Fire officials say dozens of people were reportedly on the passageway leading to the vessel when it collapsed. At least 20 people were injured.
The Queen Mary 2 is currently docked at a French shipyard where it remains under construction. It underwent a test voyage in September but finishing touches on the 150,000-ton oceanliner are yet to be completed.
Its maiden voyage across the Atlantic is supposed to take place in early 2004.
Dignitaries die in QM2 accident
Saint Nazaire, France - Eleven people died on Saturday and more than 20 people were injured in the collapse of a gangway on the Queen Mary II, the largest passenger ship ever built, fire services said.
The accident occurred at the Saint Nazaire shipyard in western France, where the finishing touches are being made to the new cruise liner.
Emergency officials said there were about 30 people on the gang-plank, including dignitaries taking part in an official visit, when the accident happened. They said the death toll could rise.
The Queen Mary II has been undergoing sea-trials and is due to be handed over to the Cunard shipping line next month, with an official launch attended by Queen Elizabeth II of England in Southampton on January 8.
The ship returned to port at Saint-Nazaire, on France's Atlantic coast, on Tuesday after a successful series of tests.
I have cruised a couple of times and in fact just came back from a cruise on Sunday. The gangway is not generally part of the ship, but of the docking structure. The French seem to be trying to blame this accident on the vessel, named for an English Queen, and not on their docking facilities. Typical.
If we could just add
tin foil by speculating
that the accident
might really have been
a weird, Masonic blood-rite,
what a thread we'd have!
Eleven died, of which several children, in an accident on Queen Mary 2
Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) (AFP) - Eleven people, whose several children, died Saturday, and at least a score were wounded in the building sites from the Atlantic in Saint-Nazaire at the time of an accident which has occurred on the giant steamer Queen Mary 2, one learned to the firemen
The children took part in a visit on the steamer when a footbridge broke down. About thirty people who were there fell into the hold, one learned from police source in Saint-Nazaire.
The assessment could be weighed down, indicated the firemen without giving more precise details on the circumstances of the drama.
This accident occurs at a few weeks of the delivery of the steamer to the Cunard ship-owner and four days of the end of the second trial run at sea of Queen Mary 2 (QM2), sunken Tuesday with the wearing of Saint-Nazaire under the eyes of thousands of people.
Some 400 engineers and technicians had embarked on Queen Mary 2 for this second series of tests, whose most spectacular test was the "crash-stop". It was a question of stopping the boat in a few minutes whereas he was launched at his full speed of 30 knots (54 km/h), by reversing the direction of rotation of the propellers.
"Very it occurred very well is a beautiful result, a full paperboard", had been pleased Tuesday at the end of the afternoon Jean-Rémy Villageois, the person in charge for the project to the Building sites of the Atlantic (Alstom-Navy), at the end of this second trial run.
Before Christmas, "QM2" will bid its farewell with the estuary of the Loire.
January 8, 2004, the queen Elizabeth II will christen the ship in Southampton, her home port.
The transatlantic liner the Queen Mary II is seen at shipyards in Saint-Nazaire, France, in this Sept. 24, 2003, file photograph. About 10 people died Saturday when a stairway leading to the Queen Mary II collapsed in Saint-Nazaire, French police said. Photo by Jacky Naegelen/Reuters
AP Update off of yahoo
12 Die in Queen Mary 2 Gangway Collapse
ST. NAZAIRE, France - A gangway connecting the Queen Mary 2 to a dock collapsed Saturday as dozens of people were crossing it to visit what will be the world's largest passenger ship. At least 12 people were killed and 32 injured, fire officials said.
The victims were family members of workers on the 21-story-tall ocean liner, which is dry docked at this Atlantic coastal shipyard for finishing touches before its maiden voyage, planned for January.
The relatives had been given permission to tour the ship Saturday. They crowded on to the access gangway connecting the dock to the ship when the structure collapsed, said Herve Malherbe, chief aid at the Loire-Atlantic prefecture. It was not immediately known how high up the gangway was.
Ten of the injured were in serious condition, according to the Operational Center Fire and Rescue Center. A child was among the injured, it added, though French radio reports said several children were hurt.
Dozens of firefighters and rescue workers rushed to the scene of the accident, setting up medical units to treat the injured.
The 150,000-ton trans-Atlantic liner has had its first two test runs, most recently in September. It is to make its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in January.
Britain's Cunard Lines, which operates the vessel and is owned by Carnival Corp. , sent sympathies to the victims' families. "Our thoughts are prayers are with their friends and relatives at this time of sorrow," said the president and chief operating officer Pamela Conover.
Once completed, the $800 million QM2 — the world's longest, tallest and most expensive passenger ship — will feature a planetarium, 22 elevators and the world's largest floating library.
It will top an illustrious list of massive passenger ships.
The Queen Elizabeth 2 — whose trans-Atlantic route will be taken over by the new ship in April — was built in 1967; the original Queen Mary was launched in 1934 and is now a hotel in Long Beach, California.
In sheer size, the QM2 tops them all. It's 377 yards long and 79 yards high — or about the height of a 21-story building. It will weigh more than twice the QE2's 70,000 tons.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s Voyager-class ships, about 138,000 tons, are currently the largest cruise ships in service.
The QM2 is being built by Alstom Marine's Chantiers de l'Atlantique, and some 800 companies, mostly French, have been involved in the construction.
The QM2 has generated a lot of interest, with Chantiers de l'Atlantique saying it had received at least 150,000 letters from people asking to come aboard for a look.
Therefore you are expert? The QMII is being built by French company in France. They are clearly responsible for everything to do with ship they build - to say otherwise would be absurd. I think you are imagine conspiracy quack.
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