Cruise Ship Law

Last weekend, a sailboat race turned tragic as a boat was found in pieces during the Newport Beach to Ensenada race. Reportedly, the ship collided with another vessel “hundreds of times its size.” These deaths are the first in the race’s 65 year history. The destroyed boat, a 37-foot sailboat named the Aegean, was found Saturday morning.

The tragedy was certainly unexpected, especially as the team aboard the boat was comprised of veteran sailors. The skipper of the ship, who is presumed dead, has not been found at this time. Three bodies have been found thus far among the debris—Joseph Lester Stewart of Bradenton, FL, William Reed Johnson, Jr. of Torrance, and Kevin Rudolph of Manhattan Beach. A coast guard investigation is under way to hopefully solve the mysteries of this boating accident.

The deaths are the second yachting disaster this spring. On April 14, five fatalities occurred in a racing accident off the coast of San Francisco.

Washington (CNN) -- In the wake of the deadly Costa Concordia cruise ship accident off the coast of Italy in January, the cruise industry is implementing new safety standards.

Cruise Lines International Association, the world's largest cruise non-profit organization representing 26 companies, announced Tuesday it is putting in place standards it says will "achieve concrete, practical and significant safety dividends in the shortest possible time."

Officials say each ship will now be required to provide additional adult life jackets in excess of the legal requirements within a ship's most-populated zone. This will ensure the number of life jackets carried by a cruise liner will exceed the actual number of passengers on board.

At least 30 people were killed and two others are missing and presumed dead after the Costa Concordia struck rocks and turned on its side January 13 off the Italian island of Giglio.

Some survivors said they returned to their rooms to get their life jackets a half hour after the accident and struggled to climb many levels in dim emergency lighting on the listing ship to reach lifeboats.

The industry also adopted a policy to "minimize unnecessary disruptions and distractions" on the bridge. The change will limit access to the bridge "to those with operational functions during any period of restricted maneuvering or when increased vigilance is required."

The captain of the Costa Concordia faces allegations of manslaughter, causing the shipwreck, abandoning ship and failing to report the accident. Some media outlets reported that Capt. Francesco Schettino had a woman with him on the bridge just before the accident.

Schettino has previously said managers of the cruise line instructed him to sail close to Giglio. He said the ship hit a rock not indicated on charts of the area.

A third safety policy adopted involves passage planning procedures, which is the complete description of a ship's movement from departure to arrival. The new standard will change what was simply guidance for years and make it a mandatory minimum requirement. All bridge team members will be briefed on the voyage "well in advance of its implementation" by a designated officer and approved by the master.

"As the Concordia incident demonstrates, there is no such thing as perfect safety," said Manfredi Lefebvre, chairman of the European Cruise Council. "We do strive for a perfect commitment to safety."

The captain of the Princess Cruise ship that sailed past a small fishing boat in distress last month has recently stated that he was never informed of the boat that was stranded in the ocean. While several passengers claimed to have reported the boat to crew members, the word was apparently never relayed to the captain manning the cruise ship. Some passengers also claim to have reported the stranded boat to United States authorities, which also resulted in no action. An ongoing internal investigation is underway to learn what went on that day aboard the ship.

The vessel in distress was a small 10-foot fishing boat from Rio Hato, Panama. They had set sail on February 24th and the boat was disabled and stranded for 28 days at sea. Three men were initially on board, two of which died in the tragic boating accident. The survivor was found near the Galapagos Islands. When he saw the Princess Cruise ship coming towards them in the Pacific, he thought they were going to be rescued—only to watch in dismay as the ship continued to sail off into the distance.

A small fire aboard the Allure of the Seas cruise ship has been extinguished with no reported injuries.

Royal Caribbean International spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said the engine fire occurred about 7:45 p.m. Friday.

The gargantuan cruise ship was sailing from St. Maarten to Port Everglades when the fire broke out.

Martinez said the ship's high fog system was activated the fire was quickly contained and extinguished.

No passengers or crew were injured, and the ship never lost power. It is scheduled to return to Fort Lauderdale today.

March 29, 2012 - Feedback continues to surface from passengers who were aboard the Silver Shadow luxury cruise liner after it recently collided with a container ship five miles off the Vietnamese coast. Although no major injuries have been reported so far, several of the passengers who observed the collision and its aftermath felt that owner Silversea Cruises’ reference to the collision as a “minor incident” of “contact between the Silver Shadow and a local commercial vessel”—as the cruise ship accident has been reported in the media—was really an understatement.

Dense fog that morning set conditions for the event. The Silver Shadow had been sounding its aft fog horns repeatedly for quite some time as it was moving through the waters off the coast of Vietnam on the morning of March 16, when the bow’s foghorn suddenly blared in short and frequent bursts, signaling the onset of imminent danger.

Based on first-hand accounts from passengers, the Vietnamese container ship came out of nowhere and was suddenly broadside to the cruise ship’s bow, where it was struck within a matter of seconds. The container ship rolled over but did not capsize, and actually righted itself as it was moved by the passing cruise liner.

Passenger Andrew Lock, interviewed by CNN, said that he and his wife saw that the container ship was damaged. After the initial impact, Lock reported that the forward momentum of the Silver Shadow “pushed the Vietnamese ship around, so that it actually came down the side, the length of our ship, scraping along the side as it went. And from that viewpoint, we could see just how much damage had been done to that [container] ship.”

Lock said he wasn't aware of any injuries aboard the luxury vessel, which had a hole dug into its bow, but said the other vessel was badly damaged. "We struck the other ship in several places that we could see—we struck it at the bridge, where they would operate from," Lock said. "We literally crushed the ship inwards. And we also struck the sides of the ship, causing a tear along the side, a vertical tear, quite substantial. And as we passed by the other ship, I personally saw several of their crew members just lying on the deck."

Lock disputed the cruise line's characterization of the incident: "It was a major collision."

With stories of the recent Costa Concordia tragedy fresh in their memories, the passengers’ fear for their personal safety immediately after the incident was at fever pitch. Although the Silver Shadow’s crew reportedly remained calm, another passenger, Deanna Kratzenberg, said that she and her husband did not receive instructions from the crew about what to do following the collision. “There was confusion in the hallways as passengers tried to figure out what had happened and whether they were safe,” she said. "There was a lot of fear. The people around me were crying...For quite some minutes there was nothing to indicate what the crew were [doing] or what [we should] do.” In Lock’s opinion some of the passengers were “even frantic.”

Andrew Lock told CNN that about 10 minutes after the incident, the captain announced that there was no imminent danger. Deanna Kratzenberg’s attempts to get an explanation as to how this could have happened were met by cool responses. She says cruise employees repeatedly answered by saying that the cruise ship "had the right of way," and any further attempt to ask additional questions resulted in the cruise staffers walking away. Although Kratzenberg characterized this as arrogance, it’s likely that the crew were under strict orders to say nothing more, pending Silversea’s full investigation of the incident.

Based in Monaco, with its Americas headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Silverseas Cruises is a highly rated “traditional luxury” cruise line, known for its flawless service, authentic gourmet cuisine, and exotic destinations.

Symbolic of the drama surrounding the Costa Concordia shipwreck in Italy, the initial hearing of the criminal investigation into the cruise-ship disaster was conducted Saturday not in a courthouse but in a theater, according to The Associated Press.

A central focus of the investigation necessarily is Capt. Francesco Schettino, who was the master of the luxury liner that capsized excruciatingly close to the Italian island of Giglio after running aground on Friday the 13th in January, killing at least 25 people and injuring 64 others. Seven are still missing.

Prosecutors have contended Schettino caused the disaster by maneuvering the Costa Concordia, with about 4,250 crew members and passengers, too close to the shore. He is currently under house arrest.

One of the more disturbing details in the media coverage of the hearing Saturday was the allegation that Schettino was not wearing his eyeglasses on the evening of the accident and therefore requested his first officer to check the radar for him, the first officer's attorney told Reuters.

The first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, and seven other people with ties either to the ship or to the ship's owner -- the Italy-based Costa Cruises unit of the U.S.-based Carnival Corp. -- are also being investigated in connection with the accident.

"That evening, Schettino had left his reading glasses in the cabin and repeatedly asked Ambrosio to look at the radar to check the route," Ambrosio's lawyer Salvatore Catalano told Reuters outside the hearing venue. The first officer had made the same allegation about the captain to investigating magistrates at previous hearings, Catalano added.

Schettino has claimed the rock hit by the cruise ship was not shown on his navigational charts, but he also has acknowledged he brought the ship too close to the shore. However, he has contended he is not the only one to blame for the tragedy, Reuters reported.

None of those under investigation attended the closed-door hearing in the city of Grosseto, where the theatrical venue accommodated hundreds of victims' relatives, survivors, and attorneys for all parties, Reuters said.

Prosecutors must decide whether to seek a trial against the captain and the other seven people under investigation. Keys to their decision could be what experts determine to be the facts that led to the cruise-ship disaster, AP reported.

Four experts were appointed by the court to examine the luxury liner's data recorder, AP said, adding that the judge apparently has ordered the experts to present their findings at a hearing on July 21.

The captain of doomed Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia had form before January's disaster - he once crashed his ship while sailing too fast into a German port.

Captain Francesco Schettino 'manoeuvred at a speed of 7.7 to 7.9 knots during entry into the port of Warnemunde, causing damage to the Aida Blu cruise ship.' The incident happened in June 2010.

Schettino responded in writing to his employers: 'I did not know the speed limit and have not received notification of an infraction from the relevant authorities.'

He said there were 'probably other factors' behind the accident.

Schettino has been accused of manslaughter and of abandoning ship before all the passengers were evacuated after the Costa Concordia crashed into the Italian island of Giglio on January 13 with the loss of 32 lives.

At the time of the German incident he was captain of the Costa Atlantica, another liner from the fleet of Costa Crociere, Europe's biggest cruise operator based in the port of Genoa in northern Italy.

Schettino, who has been dubbed 'Captain Coward', is one of nine people under investigation for the Costa Concordia disaster including three Costa Crociere executives and five other crew members.

Leaked documents published on Thursday contained claims of a hard-partying atmosphere on board two Costa Crociere ships including the Costa Concordia, with officers seen snorting cocaine and getting drunk on a regular basis.

The revelation was made as former Costa Cruises employees told prosecutors investigating the Concordia disaster that officers 'took drugs' while on duty and molested female staff members.

One woman, a nurse identified only as Valentina B and who worked with under fire Concordia skipper Francesco Schettino, claimed he regularly 'used women as goods to be bartered with.'

She described how she had been on the liner Atlantica with spineless Schettino, 52, who is accused of abandoning the Concordia after he steered it on to rocks and left more than 30 people dead, for a month between January and February 2010.

Her damning revelations to investigating prosecutor Francesco Verusio, were published by La Stampa newspaper and she said of her experiences with Genoa based Costa: 'I found corruption, prostitution and drugs.

'Do not tell me it’s my word against them - I saw directly with my own eyes senior officers take cocaine.

'To prove it all you need to do is carry out an examination of their hair.'

Her claims come just days after a cocaine test on strands of Schettino’s hair tested positive for cocaine but his legal team have asked for a second examination as they dispute the results and he has insisted that he does not drink or take drugs.

The nurse, who worked for Costa for a total of seven months between October 2009 and May 2010, made her allegations in more than 5,000 pages of prosecution documents.

They form part of the case against Schettino who is facing charges of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship when passengers were still onboard and failing to communicate with maritime authorities.

Valentina went on to claim that 'crew members were reduced to virtual slaves by the officers' adding that she left the company after receiving threats and that she was 'still owed money'.

Another former employee, identified only as Mary G said: 'The crew and officers are very superficial when it come to dealing with an emergency. I only worked for Costa for two months in 2010 but a lot of the time officers and crew were drunk.

'At parties a lot of the time we would ask ourselves ‘If there is an emergency who is going to save the ship?’

'I was also molested by a crew member at a lunch once after he had taken drugs. They made me sign doctored work sheets and time sheets. I am taking action against them and it will be in court soon.'

On Saturday a preliminary hearing involving Schettino is due to take place in Grosseto with dozens of passengers from the doomed Concordia expected to attend, forcing the venue to be moved from the town’s court to the theatre which has extra seating capacity.

Schettino was placed under investigation after it emerged he had recklessly altered the Concordia’s course so that he could carry out a sail by salute of the Italian island of Giglio in January but the ship which was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew hit rocks which tore a 70 metre hole in the hull.

It is now currently lying partially submerged on rocks just outside Giglio harbour while salvage experts continue to pump off more than 500,000 gallons of heavy duty diesel from the ship’s tanks.

Costa issued a statement which did not respond specifically to the allegations made but which said: 'On board our ships there are strict safety and surveillance measures concerning drugs possession.

'It is not allowed in any way to bring on board, possess, trade or use narcotics, drugs or psychotropic drugs.

'Whichever crew member who possesses, uses drugs or however make some traffic are submitted to disciplinary provisions and disembarked.

'On board there are checks and preventive actions to discourage such behaviours. Both in navigation and in port.

'It is not allowed to consume alcohol in quantity that can impairs the capacity to perform the on board duties. The crew on guard must abstain from the use of alcoholic beverages at least 4 hours before the start of their shift.'

Showers and hot meals were the first order of business today for the more than 1,000 passengers and crew members disembarking the crippled Costa Allegra luxury cruise ship for the Seychelles' main island of Mahe today.

The cruise liner, which is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines' Costa Cruises subsidiary, went adrift Monday in the Indian Ocean after a fire in its engine room knocked out power.

Passengers and crew members had no water and slept outside for three days to avoid the 100-plus temperatures indoors. Food and emergency supplies were delivered by helicopter.

"We were very hot and the sewage was very poor," Eleanor Bradwell of Athens, Ga., said. "We are just elated to be off the ship."

Bradwell and husband Gordon were among the 636 passengers -- eight of whom were American -- aboard the Costa Allegra for the nearly month-long cruise with numerous stops at island nations off the east coast of Africa along the way to Savona, Italy. They said they were eating lunch Monday when the alarm sounded.

"There was a bit of chaos and confusion," Gordon Bradwell said. "They began to lower the boats. They were very disorganized [and] unprofessional in the way they handled it. It could have been a disaster of biblical proportions if that fire had gotten out of control. Who knows what the results could have been."

The Italian cruise line released a statement Monday saying no one was injured and the blaze that broke out in the engine room in the ship's aft had been quickly extinguished.

Ship Avoids Pirates

Although there were early fears of a pirate attack because the powerless ship was in open waters off the coast of Somalia, the Allegra was eventually towed to the Seychelles' main island of Mahe by a French fishing vessel and two Seychelles tugboats accompanied by a Seychelles Coast Guard boat.

High winds and choppy waters reportedly hampered the journey but the weather was reportedly warm and humid with cloudy skies.

Te cruise liner was off the coast of the Seychelles island of Desroches Wednesday but was unable to dock there because it did not meet the necessary security conditions.

Eight members of the Costa Cruise Line "Care Team" flew from Mahe to Desroches and then took a private company boat to the Allegra to help manage the ship and help passengers make plans. The company said Tuesday that a "Care Team" of 14 executives, managers and technicians had reached Mahe to prepare for the ship's arrival.

Helicopters delivered flashlights, medicine, ice, fresh produce, bread and communication devices to the ship's occupants and the Seychelles government flew its immigration officers to the Allegra to clear the passengers and 413 crew of customs before their disembarkation.

A small generator was also brought by a Navy ship and reportedly being used by the ship's crew to "restore basic services on board."

Three charter planes were reportedly standing by today on Mahe to take passengers and crew to Italy, where Costa Cruises is headquartered. Four hundred hotel rooms had also been secured to accommodate those who preferred to stay for Seychelles' International Carnival of Victoria this weekend.

The Bradwells said they'd accepted Costa Cruise's offer of a free week at a Mahe resort.

Three Italian Navy investigators have also reached Mahe to determine what caused the fire. The Costa Allegra, the oldest and smallest of the Costa fleet, will remain docked at the island until it is repaired.

This is the second emergency situation this year for Costa Cruises, which is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines. In January, 25 people are known to have died and seven are still missing and presumed dead after the Costa Concordia capsized after hitting rocks off the Italian island of Giglio.

Fuel transfer operations are still underway on the Concordia, which lies on its side in the sea outside the island's port.

NAIROBI, Kenya—A crippled Italian cruise ship being towed in the Indian Ocean with more than 1,000 people aboard and no air conditioning now won't reach land in the Seychelles until Thursday, officials said.

The cruise ship company said that food, satellite phones and VHF radios would be brought to the Costa Allegra by helicopter. Photos released on Tuesday showed hundreds of people milling on the ship's outside decks, and officials said passengers would sleep there as well instead of in their unlit cabins.

The Costa Allegra has 636 passengers and 413 crew members on board: Among them are 212 Italian, 31 British and eight U.S. passengers. Four of the passengers are children ages 3 or younger.

The ship lost power Monday after a fire in its generator room, which knocked out power to the ship's engines as well as to its lights and air conditioning.

Cruise ship officials had said that they would be taking the stranded travelers by Wednesday to Desroches, a small, exclusive coral-lined island in the Seychelles. However, they later said Tuesday that they would instead bring them to the main Seychelles island of Mahe.

The cruise ship company said the change was done for safety and logistical reasons, and that the Allegra would reach Mahe early Thursday. Two tug boats have joined a French fishing vessel to tow the cruise ship.

The fire aboard the Costa Allegra comes only six weeks after one of its sister ships, the Costa Concordia, hit a reef and shipwrecked off Italy, killing 25 people and leaving seven missing and presumed dead.

Both ships are operated by Costa Crociere SpA, which is owned by the Florida-based Carnival Corp.

No one was injured in the fire Monday, but the blaze set the cruiseliner adrift at sea in a region where Somali pirates prey on ships.

However, company officials rushed to play down concerns.

The Costa Allegra is adrift "and being pushed by the current. It is stable and upright," Giorgio Moretti, the director of nautical operations for Costa Crociere SpA, told reporters in a conference call late Monday from company headquarters in Genoa, Italy.

"It's a big ship and to tow it, to move it across the waters, is a heavy task," said Seychelles presidential spokeswoman Srdjana Janosevic. She said that everything is calm on board the cruise ship and that no one is hurt.

Italian Coast Guard officials said emergency generators were keeping the ship's control room illuminated and communications equipment such as radios running.

The Allegra, whose Italian name means "merry," or "happy," had left northern Madagascar, off Africa's southeast coast, on Saturday and was cruising toward Port Victoria when the fire erupted. Costa said the Allegra had been due in Port Victoria on Tuesday.

The general region where the cruise ship was adrift—off the coast of Tanzania—has seen a rash of attacks by Somali pirates. In 2009, an Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people aboard fended off a pirate attack in the Indian Ocean far off the coast of Somalia.

Mr. Moretti said an armed nine-member Italian military team on anti-pirate duty was aboard the Allegra, but he insisted the maritime region where the ship was now "isn't a high risk area for pirates."

"If pirates attack, the armed guards on board will respond. But as far as I am aware, no pirates have been sighted in the area," said Ms. Janosevic.

Mr. Moretti said 15 Costa engineers, technicians and other officials were flying to Mahe in hope of reaching the Allegra by air to repair its generators.

Just weeks after the Costa Concordia ran aground, a liner with the same company stalled out in the pirate-infested Indian Ocean. Barbie Latza Nadeau on the passengers' ordeal.

Cruise companies would like passengers to think that the fatal wreck of the Costa Concordia off Giglio, Italy, on Jan. 13 was a one-off accident caused by a chain of human errors set off by the erstwhile captain, Francesco Schettino, and that the cruise industry is an otherwise safe vacation option. Maybe that’s true in theory, but try convincing the 1,049 passengers and crew of another of Costa’s luxury liners, the Allegra, who spent nearly 12 hours drifting through the pirate-infested waters off the southwest coast of Africa after an onboard fire caused its engines and electrical systems to shut down.

The fire was put out relatively quickly, and no injuries have yet been reported, but one can only imagine the terror those passengers felt, no doubt each of them recalling the vivid pictures from the Concordia disaster just six weeks earlier. As crew members worked to put out the fire, which Costa representatives say was contained to the generator room, the passengers gathered at their muster stations with their lifejackets in place, ready to abandon ship at a moment’s notice. The ship was about 20 miles from the nearest island when the fire broke out. But unlike the Concordia, which crashed in the relatively safe and calm Mediterranean Sea, the Allegra was sailing through the Indian Ocean where waves reach several meters in height and where sharks are common. Last summer, a British tourist on his honeymoon was killed by a great white shark in nearby waters.

Pirates, too, have plagued the waters for the last several years, commandeering freighters at gunpoint and demanding ransom. The limping Allegra would have been easy prey—and could still be, even with tug-boat escorts. In the last three years, several cruise liners have outrun pirate ships in these very waters after gunning their engines to get away. The Allegra even had an armed anti-pirate team of nine Italian military officials on board to ward off pirate attacks, a common practice that has become common on cruise liners off the African coast.

Late Monday night, the Allegra was joined by a French fishing trawler that answered an SOS call. It began the slow process of towing the cruise ship back toward the Seychelles archipelago, albeit at a snail’s pace. The Allegra, which is about a third of the size of the Concordia, still has no power and hygienic conditions are worsening. There is no running water, which means toilets are not functioning and passengers are unable to take showers or properly wash. The passengers and crew have had to sleep on the outdoor decks using their lifejackets as cushions. They were allowed to retrieve personal items from their cabins, but they are not allowed to sleep there because of the fire, which was directly below the sleeping decks. The ship’s kitchens have also lost power, which has compromised both the refrigeration of food and the cooks’ ability to cook even nonperishable items. The passengers were fed vending machine snacks and given fruit, bread, sodas, and bottled water while they were adrift, says the Costa company, but the food supplies were closely rationed until help arrived. On Tuesday morning, a helicopter sent by the Seychelles Coast Guard dropped food supplies and a satellite telephone and backup radios onto the ship’s deck. The ship’s crew was also able to use a battery-powered generator to offer limited lighting, which is especially important when night falls. The Costa Crociere company, based in Genoa, Italy, told The Daily Beast that the passengers are all in good health and that they were fed a hearty cold breakfast on Tuesday morning. “They are being kept abreast of all the developments and are being made as comfortable as possible,” Costa spokesman Davide Barbano said. Barbano also said that most of the passengers’ emergency contacts, which are given when passengers board a ship, had been notified to relay the news that their family members are fine but unable to communicate without Internet connectivity on the boat. “They are out of present danger.”

Still, it will take at least another two days before they reach the island of Mahe, bypassing the closer island of Desroches “for security reasons” because the island is unable to handle the number of passengers and crew. More tugboats are expected to reach the powerless ship on Tuesday afternoon, which should quicken the pace of the massive towing job. They should reach Mahe by Thursday afternoon and then will be either flown to the mainland or moved there on smaller, faster boats. From there they will either be repatriated or offered another cruise, says Costa.

For one mother, Jayne Thomas of Sutton Coldfield, England, the Allegra disaster is like a recurring nightmare. Her son James was a crew member working as a dancer on the Concordia. He was lauded for his bravery in helping passengers escape by acting as a human bridge on the sinking ship, but he has no intention of ever getting back on a ship again. In an odd coincidence, Thomas’s daughter Rebecca is a crew member, also working as a dancer, on the Allegra and has not been heard from since Sunday. “It’s just a twist of fate that unfortunately they’ve both been involved in two such unfortunate instances,” Thomas told the BBC. She has not heard from the Costa company, but assumes her daughter will be in touch when electricity and Internet connections are reestablished. "I thought it was a one-off and we wouldn't be going through this experience again. I really didn't think disaster could strike twice.”

NAIROBI, Kenya — An Italian cruise liner carrying more than 1,000 people was adrift without power in the pirate-infested Indian Ocean on Monday after a fire erupted in its generator room. The blaze, which was extinguished, caused no injuries, officials said.

Two tug boats from the island nation of Seychelles were steaming toward the drifting Costa Allegra, which had 636 passengers and 413 crew members on board, but they were not expected to arrive until Tuesday afternoon at the earliest.

Italian coast guard officials said a large French fishing boat could be the first vessel to reach the stricken cruise liner.

Monday's fire on the Costa Allegra immediately raised fears, since it occurred only six weeks after one of its sister ships, the Costa Concordia, hit a reef and capsized off Italy, killing 25 people and leaving seven missing and presumed dead. Both ships are operated by Costa Crociere SpA, which is owned by the Florida-based Carnival Corp.

However, company officials rushed to play down concerns.

The Costa Allegra is adrift "and being pushed by the current. It is stable and upright," Giorgio Moretti, the director of nautical operations for Costa Crociere SpA, told reporters in a conference call late Monday from company headquarters in Genoa, Italy.

No one was injured in the fire in the generator room and the cause of the fire was under investigation, Moretti said. The fire knocked out power to the ship's engines as well as to its lights and air conditioning.

Italian Coast Guard officials said emergency generators were keeping the ship's control room illuminated and communications equipment such as radios running. Officials said the cruise liner was holding steady, despite 5-foot (1.5 meter) waves in the area and passengers were being kept in the ship's big communal rooms, not in their cabins.

Moretti, a longtime Costa captain, said he expected the 636 passengers aboard would spend the night on outside decks. Among them were 212 Italian, 31 British and eight U.S. passengers, he said. Four of the passengers were children ages three or younger.

Costa Crociere SpA said in a statement the ship was about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Alphonse Island, one of the atolls in the Seychelles, a nation of islands and atolls that is a popular tourist destination.

The Allegra, whose Italian name means "merry," or "happy," had left northern Madagascar, off Africa's southeast coast, on Saturday and was cruising toward the port of Victoria, Seychelles' capital, when the fire erupted. Costa said the Allegra had been due in Victoria on Tuesday.

The general region where the cruise ship was adrift – off the coast of Tanzania – has seen a rash of attacks by Somali pirates. In 2009, an Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people aboard fended off a pirate attack in the Indian Ocean far off the coast of Somalia.

Moretti said an armed nine-member Italian military team on anti-pirate duty was aboard the Allegra, but he insisted the maritime region where the ship was now "isn't a high risk area for pirates."

"If pirates attack, the armed guards on board will respond. But as far as I am aware, no pirates have been sighted in the area," said Seychelles presidential spokeswoman Srdjana Janosevic.

A cargo ship was due to reach the Costa Allegra early Tuesday, and Moretti said it would bring batteries and otherwise help with communications. On Tuesday morning, a helicopter is expected to arrive, ferrying in "fresh food, cell phones and walkie talkies."

Tugs from the Seychelles island of Mahe, the largest island in the Indian Ocean archipelago, will arrive Tuesday afternoon.

"Once they arrive, they will decide which port" to take the Allegra to, Moretti said. "It depends on sea conditions."

Moretti said one possibility was evacuating passengers from the Allegra on lifeboats to Alphonse Island, then having them fly from its small airport to Mahe island. He also said 15 Costa engineers, technicians and other officials were flying to Mahe in hope of reaching the Allegra by air to repair its generators.

The bodies include that of 5-year-old Dayana Arlotti. Four ship's officers and three cruise line employees join the list of those under investigation in the wreck of the Italian luxury liner Costa Concordia.

Reporting from Rome— Divers searching the abandoned, half-sunken hull of the Costa Concordia cruise liner Wednesday found eight bodies in an unexplored and difficult- to-reach area of the ship, authorities said.

One of the victims found was 5-year-old Dayana Arlotti, whose story of a dream trip with her father turned cruel nightmare moved Italians in the days after the Jan. 13 shipwreck.

In other developments Wednesday, prosecutors in the Tuscan coastal town of Grosseto added four ship's officers and three employees of cruise ship company Costa Crociere to the list of people under investigation, joining the captain and the first mate, news reports said.

Four of the bodies, including that of the girl, were found in early afternoon and transported to a nearby hospital for identification, a spokeswoman for Italy's Civil Protection Agency said by telephone. The other four were located too late in the day for recovery to be possible and rescuers planned to retrieve them Thursday, she said.

Wednesday's discoveries brought the confirmed death toll to 25; seven people remained unaccounted for, including Dayana's father.

Not all of the five-tiered, 300-yard-long floating hotel has been inspected because the nearly 90-degree angle at which the ship is leaning and floating objects in the dark water make exploration extremely dangerous.

The Civil Protection Agency spokeswoman said that a special platform had been constructed on the fourth passenger bridge to allow divers access and address a problem that rescuers have often faced during search operations: getting out of difficult spaces.

Capt. Francesco Schettino remains under house arrest in Meta di Sorrento, his hometown in southern Italy, on charges of causing a shipwreck, manslaughter and abandoning ship. The role of his first mate, Ciro Ambrosio, is also being probed.

Among those added to the investigation list are Roberto Ferrarini, leader of the emergency unit of Costa Crociere; the company's executive vice president, Manfred Ursprunger; and fleet superintendent Paolo Parodi. They are suspected of negligence in the handling of the emergency, news reports said.

Four officers of the ship who were on the command bridge at the time of the fatal maneuver and subsequent emergency are suspected of errors in the maneuver that resulted in the shipwreck.

Costa Crociere expressed solidarity with the seven and said that it was confident of their "professional competence and ethical correctness."

The company has distanced itself from the captain, however, saying that he was not authorized to take the ship so close to the shore.

The spokeswoman for the Civil Protection Agency said that the delicate task of removing nearly half a million gallons of fuel from the ship's largest cisterns had been completed, with only one-third of the fuel remaining, in smaller containers. The operation will continue, she said, adding that so far the leaking of contaminants that many had feared had not occurred.

The mother of Dayana, Susy Albertini, who was not on the cruise ship, had continued to urge rescuers to look for her daughter, even after reasonable hope of her surviving was gone.

The website of the daily La Repubblica quoted her as saying, after being notified of the recovery of the body, "I'm running to go and hold my little girl, even if I know there is nothing more to do."

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - A woman at the center of the Italian cruise ship disaster has told investigators she was indeed on the bridge of the ship when it wrecked, killing 32 people, the BBC reported.

Dominica Cemortan, 24, who was aboard the Coasta Concordia the fateful Fri. Jan. 13 night of its crash, was questioned by Italian detectives recently for almost 6 hours, the BBC reported.

Her testimony about the bridge seems to clash with that of the captain, who had said that Cemortan, who now says she "loves the captain," was not on the bridge at the time of the wreck, the British news agency reported.

"When the accident happened, I was on the bridge," the BBC reported that Cemortan, a former cruise worker at the time of the crash, told investigators recently.

No one but authorized ship workers should be on the bridge and some theorized the young woman's presence could have distracted the sailors, who were already off course and close to rocks.

In more shocking testimony, investigators say that Cemortan's belongings such as a suitcase, clothes and sexy underwear were found in Captain Francesco Schettino's room by divers. The woman has been described variously as a former ballet dancer and customer service rep for the cruise lines.

This would seem to tie the young woman and the married captain more closely than just "having dinner," as had been previously reported.

"Yes, it's true. I am in love with Captain Schettino," Cemortan  told prosecutors, according to Italian newspaper La Stampa, the Telegraph reported.

Capt Schettino is under house arrest facing charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.

Cemortan is expected to be questioned again later and officials now say said they should be able to hold a preliminary hearing into the tragedy next month, John Honeywell of the UK's Mirror reported.

Cruise ships' designs are at fault

As a descendent of a long line of ship designers and builders, I shiver when I see each new modern cruise ship hit the waves.

They are designed to have far too many passenger decks above the main deck. This, of course, is to get as many dollars per cruise as possible. This causes the center of gravity to be far too high above the center of buoyancy.

To make matters worse, the upper decks extend widthwise to the edge of the hull, and the upper deck contains the weight of water in swimming pools.

Perhaps ship designers now are not aware of center of gravity and center of buoyancy.

I do not blame the ship's captain in the recent overturned ship accident as much as I blame the ship's designers. This was an accident waiting to happen.

It's a wonder that some of the newer modern cruise ships haven't been overturned by broadside waves during a major storm.

This ship should have been able to hit the reef with considerable damage, but it should not have turned over.

As my wife put it plainly when I explained it to her, the cruise ships are now top-heavy.

Stuart H. McElroy
Colonial Beach

By Monica Kim, Condé Nast Traveler magazine

The capsizing of the Costa Concordia has thrown a harsh spotlight on the international cruise industry. Much like the ill-fated Concordia, the $40 billion industry is being portrayed as a ship without a captain by media outlets including The New York Times. The event has also brought renewed attention to an issue that dates back to the Titanic: a faulty system of safety oversight.

The oversight system currently in place
The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) was passed by the maritime nations in 1914, spurred by public outrage over the loss of more than 1,500 people in the sinking of the Titanic. It was an international agreement that established safeguards such as ice patrols and set standard safety procedures, including the number of lifeboats required on a ship. SOLAS is now administered by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), an agency of the United Nations that updates the regulations at an annual convention (the Marine Safety Committee will next meet May 16-25, 2012).

The big problem
Though the IMO sets safety standards, critics have long argued that they are meaningless because the organization has no power to enforce them. Each ship sails under a country's flag, and that country becomes its "flag state." It is the flag state's responsibility to uphold SOLAS regulations (the Costa Concordia sailed under Italy's flag). In fact, in a 2001 speech, the former IMO Secretary General W.A. O'Neil conveyed that not all ships were being held accountable by their flag states, causing problems with safety oversight. "This flag State responsibility is at the core of the process and is applicable to all IMO Members, in equal measure," he said. "However, some of them may lack the skills and resources to carry out their responsibilities effectively."

The attempted solution
So without any jurisdiction over the countries deploying ships, the IMO emphasized the importance of a port's power and duty to inspect any incoming ships and make sure they are up to code. But a similar problem arises here: While all "port states" must check ships according to the basic SOLAS guidelines, it's up to each nation how far above and beyond those guidelines it wants to go. For example, U.S. Coast Guard officials inspect ships sailing through U.S. waters every year (checking lifeboats, structural integrity and watching safety drills to ensure the crew has been trained according to IMO laws); other countries may conduct inspections only every two, three or five years, according to Scott Elpheson, a senior marine inspector with the Cruise Ship National Center of Expertise, the Coast Guard center that trains ship inspectors. "No vessel is going to sail through our waters unless the minimum safety standards are met," says Elpheson.

Based on more than 30 years of research of maritime law, Judge Tom Dickerson, author of Travel Law, claims the U.S. has the best set of safety rules to guard passengers' rights. "When people ask me what kind of cruise they should take, I always say they should take a ship that touches a U.S. port," Dickerson says, though he could not comment on the records of other ports.

What will happen now?
In the end, the "flag states" still have the ultimate say on whether a ship and its crew are fit to sail, and their decisions are not subject to review by any international body. Marine safety advocates are hoping that the Costa Concordia accident might improve the current system. At a recent press conference in London, Christine Duffy, President and CEO of the Cruise Lines International Association, urged the IMO to carefully evaluate the findings from the Costa Concordia investigation to ensure the cruise industry remains as safe as possible. Duffy said, "While there is a great deal still not known about this incident, all of our members recognize the seriousness of these events and want to ensure we apply the lessons learned from this tragic event."

Thinking about booking a cruise? The crew may be unprepared.

Talk to cruise-line workers, and you won’t hear much surprise about the chaos during the Costa Concordia disaster. “Those of us who’ve had close calls before knew it was a question of ‘when,’ not ‘if,’” says Shari Cecil, a former merchant marine with Norwegian Cruise Line America. Cecil describes safety drills where crew members had no clue about their responsibilities—some were so nonchalant that they didn’t want to take off their high heels when boarding inflatable safety rafts—and the crew would be handed safety-reminder “cheat sheets” ahead of U.S. Coast Guard inspections. “I passed them out myself,” she says. “We’d even shut down the bar for crew so no one would be hung over.” (A Norwegian Cruise spokeswoman would not comment on specific claims but says “the safety of our guests and crew is, at all times, our No. 1 priority.”)

Former crew of numerous other lines say workers were often too exhausted to pay attention during safety-training sessions, and many didn’t speak enough English to even understand what was being said. Reshma Harilal says that during her eight years as a stateroom attendant with Carnival Cruise Lines, parent company of the ill-fated Concordia, boat-safety drills varied in regularity, and she never once had a native English speaker conduct training. “We all got safety training, but even I had difficulty understanding the English of the officers who trained us, who were always Italian with strong accents.” Carnival referred questions to the Cruise Lines International Association, which responded that “training must be conducted in a language that will be understood by the particular crew members.”

Though most big cruise lines like Carnival have headquarters and home ports in the U.S. and cater to American travelers, they are actually “flagged” in countries like the Bahamas or Panama, staffed mostly by foreigners, and incorporated overseas—thus allowing the companies to pay minimal U.S. taxes and circumvent many domestic labor and safety regulations. “There is a real absence of regulatory oversight or authority over the cruise industry,” says Jim Hall, who was chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board during the Clinton administration.

Yet the multiple investigations now underway into the Concordia crew’s handling of the disaster could change all that. “While I have every confidence in the safety of our vessels and the professionalism of our crews,” Carnival CEO Micky Arison said in a statement, “this review will evaluate all practices and procedures to make sure that this kind of accident doesn’t happen again.”

Those who’ve spent their lives in the industry say some answers are floating right on the surface. One is crew-to-passenger ratios, which have widened over the past few decades from an average of one crew member for every two passengers to one for every three, according to the International Transport Workers’ Fed-eration. Crew members work 12-to-14-hour days, seven days a week, for months at a stretch, with minimal time off. “Half the ship is working in a state of fatigue,” says James Walker, a former cruise-industry lawyer who now represents aggrieved crew. “All types of safety studies have shown if you’re really exhausted you can be impaired to the point of intoxication.” The mostly Asian crew of the Costa Concordia had been on an eight-month shift when the ship capsized after running ashore off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Accommodations were like the Titanic’s steerage section. Only managers had shared cabins, and the others slept in dormitory bunks.

“These are bean-counter dynamics,” says lawyer and author of Unsafe on the High Seas Charles Lipcon, who is in talks with several potential Concordia plaintiffs.

There has been a media sensation surrounding the sinking of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy last Friday, perhaps in large part due to the chilling coincidence it happened on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

As the days have progressed there have been various conflicting reports and conjecture over how this tragedy happened. We have heard a lot about the Captain, who is fast becoming the villain of the story, ignoring orders not to deviate from the planned route and fleeing the ship before others had got to safety. Certainly he has a lot to answer for. Regardless of his actions however, some people are asking how a modern day cruise ship could capsize so easily. Are there serious design flaws?

When the Titanic was built it was the biggest ship in the world at 882 Ft long and weighing 46,328 tonnes. In the 100 years that have passed ships have become even larger. Where the Concordia is only marginally longer than the Titanic at 952 ft long, it is more than double its weight at 112,000 tonnes.
The top-heavy design

If you look at two pictures of the ships there is one noticeable difference: the height. The Costa Concordia is much taller than the Titanic and this has become a modern trend in cruise ships. Much like high-rise flats, it’s a way of fitting as many people as possible into a confined area. Does this top-heavy design make the ship less stable and more liable to capsize?

The union for maritime professionals, Nautilus International, has been very vocal since the accident stating they had been warning that an accident like this was inevitable. Andrew Linington, from Nautilus, wrote in the Guardian about new cruise ship designs, “The number of decks has been increased, with additional leisure facilities, to increase revenue-earning capacity. Additional swimming pools, coupled with a number of slack tanks when in operational service, further reduce vessel stability.”

However, when we spoke to Mark Staunton-Lambert at the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, he seemed to disagree. He claims, though it appears to be top-heavy, in actuality the weight is properly spaced. He says, “It’s not really a question of how tall they are, it is a question of where their centre of gravity is and their centre of buoyancy.”

Was the top-heavy design of the Costa Concordia at fault?

Apparently, the decks above the hull are relatively light compared to the weight of the hull where the heavy engine lies and the weighted keel below. Moreover, there are regulations set in place that have to be followed regarding the weighting of a ship to ensure stability. Staunton-Lambert says that boats that didn’t pass rigid safety tests and adhere to the rules for safe design, “would be breaking regulations, simple as that. The flag state wouldn’t allow it, the classifications designers wouldn’t allow it and the owner would be at fault in even trying to think about it.”

What are the regulations?

In finding out how stringent the regulations are, we contacted the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and a spokesperson ensured me that under the international convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), “all ships had to be designed to ensure they can’t capsize during expected operations”. One feature of design that it insists upon is the compartmentalization of the hull. In Chapter 2, clause 1 of SOLAS it states, “the subdivision of passenger ships into watertight compartments must be such that after assumed damage to the ship’s hull the vessel will remain afloat and stable.”

So why did the Costa Concordia not remain stable after its hull was damaged? We will have to wait for the conclusions of the investigation into the accident in due course but it seems odd that the ship, which would have to have abided by the SOLAS convention in order to sail managed to capsize. I asked Staunton-Lambert. He said, “(it depends) where and how big the hole is in the hull and so just how many watertight compartments were flooded. Make a big enough hole and you can sink any ship. There is also a possibility that the grounding of the vessel may have also contributed to the vessel heeling.”
Is it time to reassess cruise ship design?

Interestingly, the Titanic was one of the first ships to use the innovative new design of watertight compartments throughout the hull with the intention that, if two or three compartments were flooded, the ship would still not sink. When the White Star Line were informed that the Titanic was in trouble, the vice president P.A.S Franklin is quoted to have said, “we place absolute confidence in the Titanic. We believe the boat is unsinkable.” By the time he spoke these words the Titanic had sunk.

Of course, it would be foolhardy to believe that a ship could never sink. The sea is a dangerous place and man cannot control it. Having said that, a reassessment of cruise ship design is needed to make sure that another tragedy like this can be prevented in the future.

The confirmed death toll from the capsizing of Carnival Corp.’s (CCL) Costa Concordia off Italy’s Tuscan coast rose to five today as rescuers continued to search for 15 people still missing. Three people were found alive in the capsized cruise liner.

The ship’s captain has been arrested and accused of manslaughter, abandoning the vessel and causing the shipwreck following the incident on Jan. 13. Two bodies were found aboard the ship today, said Stefano Giannelli, a fire department spokesman, adding to two French tourists and a Peruvian crewmember who are also known to have perished.

About 60 people were also injured after the ship carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew hit submerged rocks near the island of Giglio in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Many of the survivors spoke of the panic on board when the ship began listing, with some likening the events to those in the film “Titanic.”

Rescue workers evacuated passengers and crew to the nearest mainland port, Santo Stefano, Italy’s Civil Protection Agency said on its website. Rescuers found two South Korean passengers in a cabin inside the ship at 3 a.m. local time today and they saved a crewmember after voices were heard on the third deck, Giannelli, said.

About 60 firemen are deployed in the search operation that will continue “all night long,” he said. Rescuers have searched one third of the ship, Giannelli said.
Prosecutor Probe

Captain Francesco Schettino is being detained for allegedly abandoning the ship “since we know he was in the harbor about midnight,” Francesco Verusio, the chief prosecutor in the city of Grosseto, said in an interview. The ship’s first officer is also being probed, he said. Dozens of people have been questioned so far, the prosecutor said.

Gianni Onorato, general manager of the Costa Crociere line, said the ship had embarked about 7 p.m. from Civitavecchia near Rome on a trip that was scheduled to include stops at ports in France and Spain. The vessel hit the rocks and Captain Schettino, after assessing the damage, decided to secure the ship and gave the evacuation order, Onorato told news channel SkyTG24 in an interview. A Costa Crociere spokesman confirmed the comments.

The number of missing may be as low as 15, including six crewmembers, according to the Tuscany Region Governor Enrico Rossi. Among them are an 84-year-old Italian and a 5-year-old child, la Repubblica said on its website. The U.S. Embassy in Italy said two of the 120 U.S. passengers are still unaccounted for, according to a statement posted on Twitter today.
‘Terrible Tragedy’

“This is a terrible tragedy and we are deeply saddened,” Carnival said yesterday in a statement. Carnival, based in Miami, is the world’s largest cruise line owner, with brands such as Cunard, Princess Cruises and Costa.

The ship probably was on a wrong route, the prosecutor said. The so-called black box was retrieved, Verusio said. Investigators have determined the ship was only about 150 meters (492 feet) from the coast when it hit the rocks, Ansa said.

Captain Schettino said he was the last one to leave the ship, according to an interview broadcast by TGCOM24 before his arrest. The rocks weren’t identified on the navigation maps, Schettino said. The ship was at least 300 meters from the island when it hit the rocks, he said.

The accident was due to a “reckless maneuver,” news Ansa quoted Verusio as saying. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said the captain may have steered the boat closer to the coast to allow passengers a better view of the island’s lights.
Scuba Divers

A scuba-diving unit arrived from Genoa today to search for survivors who may be inside the ship, Lieutenant Colonel Italo Spalvieri of the Livorno Air-Naval Rescue unit said in a telephone interview.

Television images broadcast today showed the Costa lying on its starboard side, a portion of the ship underwater and its orange smokestack close to the waterline. The ship was built in 2006 and has 1,500 cabins, according to Costa Crociere’s website. The vessel also had a docking accident at Palermo’s harbor in 2008 because of strong winds, newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reported.

The ship hit the rocks about 9:45 p.m. as dinner was being served, sending plates and glasses crashing, Italian media reported. Passengers said the situation on board was reminiscent of the film “Titanic,” as the vessel tilted, electrical power was lost and people rushed to find lifeboats. Several passengers interviewed by Italian television channels including SkyTG24 said they were initially told by crew that there only was an electrical problem and it wasn’t an emergency.
‘Roaring Sound’

Cabin steward Deodato Ordona told the British Broadcasting Corp. there was a “roaring sound” before the ship began to shift. He said the vessel leaned to the left and then the right before the captain announced an order to abandon ship.

There were 3,200 passengers on the ship, including 1,000 Italians, 500 Germans, 160 French and 250 from North America, Costa Crociere said. Emergency procedures began immediately and were impeded by the ship’s listing, Costa Crociere said in a statement. The cause of the incident can’t be confirmed, the company said.

The first coast guard boats arrived within 10 minutes of the accident, Air-Naval Rescue Lieutenant Colonel Spalvieri said by phone. The vessel is carrying a large amount of fuel and Costa Crociere has been ordered to start procedures to remove it, according to Cosimo Nicastro, a spokesman for the Italian Coast Guard. The Giglio island is part of the biggest marine park in Europe. Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli said in an e-mailed statement that there’s no risk of an oil spill.
Launching the Lifeboats

Fabio Costa, a shop worker on the boat, said it took the crew a long time to launch the lifeboats because the vessel had listed so much.

“We just saw a huge rock, that was probably where the ship hit, and people were having huge trouble trying to get on the lifeboats,” Costa told the BBC. “So at that point we didn’t know what to do, so it took hours for people to get off the ship. It was easier for people to jump into the sea because we were on the same level as that water.

“So some people pretty much just decided to swim as they were not able to get on the lifeboats,” he said.
‘Felt Like’ Titanic

Rose Metcalf, a 22-year-old British dancer who had been performing on the ship and who was winched to safety by a helicopter, told her father it had “felt like the sinking of the Titanic.”

“The ship rolled over on its side, so they had to get a fire hose which they strung between the railings to stop them falling overboard,” Philip Metcalf told the broadcaster in an interview after speaking with his daughter.

“She thought she’d have to make a jump for it as it was dark and cold, like the sinking of the Titanic, but the helicopter then winched her off,” Metcalf said.

The vessel set sail at 7 p.m. Jan. 13 from Civitavecchia near Rome, Costa Crociere said. Its itinerary was to include calls at the Mediterranean ports of Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.

Italian newspapers said that when the vessel was christened in 2006 the champagne bottle didn’t break against the side of the ship, supposedly an omen of bad luck.

Carnival owns 100 ships and has 10 on order. Its brands also include Carnival, Holland America Line, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Ibero Cruises and P&O Cruises. The Costa cruise line has 15 ships and sails worldwide.

Celebrity Cruises has canceled all parasailing trips in the Caribbean -- indefinitely -- following an accident in St. Thomas that left one passenger dead and another critically injured. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity's sister line, has followed suit.

A 60-year-old passenger sailing on Celebrity Eclipse, who the Virgin Island Daily News identified as Bernice Kraftcheck, 60, died as a result of her fall. Her daughter, Danielle Haese, 34, who was riding in tandem, is still being treated at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Celebrity Cruises spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez confirmed that the mother and daughter were participating in a ship-sponsored shore excursion.

According to the Daily News, "squalls and wind gusts in St. Thomas on Tuesday afternoon may have factored into the death." Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad told the outlet that the women hit the water at the same time.
At least six government agencies have convened to investigate the matter, and these agencies have also been working in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard at the Federal level, said the USVI's Department of Tourism in a statement. The parasail company has voluntarily suspended operations until the completion of the full-compliance inspection.

As of Friday morning, Martinez tells Cruise Critic that the investigation is ongoing, and Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have stopped offering parasailing excursions in the Caribbean pending the outcome. Martinez said the decision to shelve the excursions was being made in an "abundance of caution."

We've reached out to a number of lines that offer parasailing in the Caribbean, including Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Lines, about the status of their offerings. The lines have yet to respond to our request for comment.

Driver Jeffrey Tillman and throttleman Robert M Morgan died en route to hospital after they lost control of their 14m (46ft) Big Thunder Marine, which is powered by four 1,200bhp engines.

Superboat International president John Carbonell said the force of the boat hitting the water was ‘powerful’ and ‘crushing’.
He said: ‘He [Tillman] was probably going about 130mph and the boat’s propellers were barely in the water.

‘The boat apparently caught some air and went bow up, straight into the air, came down and went backwards.’ The accident marred the third day of racing at the Key West World Championship in Florida.

Despite the accident and rescue efforts, the race later continued until another accident on the seventh lap.

Three sailors have died and eight others are missing after a Turkish trade ship collided with a passenger ferry and sank in the Adriatic, Albanian port authorities said on Thursday.

Sailing under a Maltese flag and loaded with aluminum, the 3,000-ton Reina 1, whose owner and crew were Turkish, sank immediately after the collision with the car ferry Ankara in international waters, said police spokeswoman Ornela Cako. The crash happened at around 2 a.m. (23:00 GMT) on Thursday some 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Albanian port of Durres.

One body was taken aboard the ferry, while two others have been spotted but not yet recovered due to rough seas, ports head Edmond Doraci told AP by telephone. Two sailors were rescued.

The Reina 1, loaded with aluminum in the Black Sea Russian port of Novorossiysk, was headed to Bar, Montenegro, with a Turkish crew of 10, according to Ahmed Soytürk (54), one of the survivors, speaking from the Durres hospital.

"It took only two minutes for the ship to go down," Soytürk said. The two survivors were in good health, according to hospital personnel in Durres. The rest of the crew was missing and officials were increasingly concerned about their lives.

"We have found only life jackets and the ship's safety boat," the Albanian coastguard's deputy commander, Artur Mecollari, told Reuters by phone. "The collision right in the middle of the ship has been fatal. It sunk in nine minutes."

Albanian officials reported earlier that some Turkish citizens had died in the collision, based on knowledge provided by Atilla, the shipmaster of the Ankara ferry. No injuries were reported on the ferry, which left Durres en route for the Italian port of Bari with 189 passengers and 46 crewmembers. The ferry left the scene with the permission of officials. Police gave no information on the cause of the crash. Meanwhile, a team of experts, including foreign experts, will begin an investigation into the cause of the accident. The Cihan news agency in Tirana reported that Albanian officials recalled the search party in the area, signaling the end of hope for the lives of the missing crewmembers.

"The ship stopped for a moment, then sank in a short time. I saw five crew members on the ship, compressed air came out as we were sinking," Soytürk said from his hospital bed.

"Everything happened suddenly. I hope our friends survive. About three, four crew members must have got out of the ship. I hope they are found," he added.

An Albanian coastguard ship as well as port rescue boats, an Italian vessel of the Guardia di Finanza and an Albanian army helicopter were deployed in the rescue mission.

A mew search mission was launched in the afternoon.

Around midday, the Ankara ferry resumed its journey. The incident will be investigated either by Malta or Turkey because it occurred in international waters.

Albanian Transport Minister Sokol Olldashi said neither of the ships had strayed from their approved route.

"We believe the tragedy came as a result of human error, but this is not yet final," Olldashi told parliament.

By Marissa Lang, Times Staff Writer

Doctors were forced to amputate the leg of the 14-year-old boy injured in a water scooter accident Monday night, his father told officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

John Dahl is recovering at Tampa General Hospital, where he remained in serious condition Tuesday morning, hospital spokeswoman Ellen Fiss said.

The Redington Shores teen was riding on a water scooter piloted by another teen about 6 p.m. Monday. Their scooter was towing a wakeboard, which held a third boy.

The wakeboard rider fell off, but the water scooter's operator, also 14, continued to travel at high speeds, said FWC spokesman Gary Morse said. Dahl became "upset about the speed of the boat and the way it was being operated" and jumped off, Morse said.

But the towline was still attached to the wakeboard, and Dahl's leg became tangled in the line, Morse said.

"It's horrible stuff," he said. "You should never jump off any vessel going at a high speed unless you have no other options to avoid injury."

The other two teens were not injured, Morse said.

Both Dahl and the driver had just passed a boating safety course and were wearing lifejackets, Morse said.

Officials are not releasing the name of the water scooter's operator because a criminal investigation is pending. Such investigations are "nothing earth-shattering," he said, but standard procedure for boating accidents involving severe injuries.

The boy's father, Tom Dahl, initially agreed to an interview Tuesday but later said he had been advised by his attorney not to discuss the incident.'

Reporter Aubrey Whelan contributed to this report.

By Theresa Clift

A man in his mid-30s was the victim of a boating accident around 12:30 p.m. today at Sanford Lake Park.

The man was in the water about 500 yards from the boat launch with a lifejacket on when the accident occurred, according to scanner traffic.

The scanner report indicated that the man had suffered a possible hand amputation from a boat propeller. An official at the scene told the Daily News that the man’s entire arm had been amputated.

Divers were called to the scene in attempt to find the arm. The arm can be reattached if it is found within six hours, according to officials.

The Department of Natural Resources is investigating.

The park remains open.

A motorboat loaded over capacity with sixteen revelers collided with a barge in the Moscow River over the weekend. The boat immediately began sinking, and nine people died as a result of the incident. The owner of the boat, Gennady Zinger, died in the accident. Zinger was a known party-enthusiast who had in fact received three fines so far this year for having too many passengers aboard his boat. The limit on his vessel was twelve.

Conflicting reports say the boat was out for one passenger's birthday or for a magazine's party. Zinger's delayed reaction to the position of the barge in the Moscow River is likely the cause for his collision into it, as well as tricky turns, confusing lights, and a sandbank. Boating traffic was ceased Sunday afternoon as rescuers attempted to pull up the damaged motorboat, which was positioned three meters underneath the barge. Six of the passengers were rescued, and another swam to shore on his own.

Boating accidents such as this certainly make for a complicated scenario. The owner of the boat, and therefore responsible party, died in the accident. Also in Russia over the weekend, a 13-year old girl was killed while swimming due to a speedboat striking her, and a small fishing boat sank on Friday killing two of the four crew on board.

For the second time in a year a tourist has died in a parasail accident off Florida's west coast.

David Richard Sieradzki, 31, of South Carolina died about a mile off Longboat Key on Monday after the boat lost speed and the parasail floated down into the water, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Sieradzki was in the air when the parasail boat Almost Heaven experienced a problem that stopped the propellers from spinning, said wildlife commission spokesman Gary Morse.

Sieradzki fell from as high as 800 feet at an unknown speed, according to the Coast Guard.

"What we do know is that he landed in the water just fine, but something happened to cause him to die once he was in the water," Morse said. "He did not come down hard."

Sieradzki was wearing a life jacket and waving his hands in the water, Morse said.

Crew members pulled Sieradzki back to the boat by hand. By the time he got to the boat, Sieradzki was likely unconscious, according to the Coast Guard.

They performed CPR on him until the Coast Guard arrived about 5:48 p.m. The Coast Guard continued CPR on Sieradzki as he was taken to Coquina boat ramp on Anna Maria Island. Manatee County emergency workers declared him dead about 5:55 p.m.

The wildlife commission and Coast Guard are investigating.

This is the second fatal parasailing incident in the area in the past year.

Alejandra White, a 27-year-old tourist from Georgia, was killed in September while parasailing along Clearwater Beach after the rope snapped. White's fiance, Shaun Ladd, also was injured. The Coast Guard is still investigating.

Legislators this year proposed a bill, named after White, that would have established state oversight of the commercial parasailing industry. The bill failed.

In Monday's accident, both the Coast Guard and the wildlife commission are continuing separate investigations.

Morse said investigations typically take a few months but can last much longer.

Eight people, including two crew members, were aboard the 28-foot commercial parasailing vessel. The vessel belongs to Fun & Sun Parasail and was captained by John Crews.

Almost Heaven is an uninspected vessel, meaning the Coast Guard does not check it. The wildlife commission and Coast Guard do not regulate parasailing.

Sieradzki was aboard the boat with his wife, Stephanie, 32, and family, said father-in-law Bud Hazel, 57, who lives in South Carolina.

He said his daughter and Sieradzki were vacationing in Florida with family.

Hazel got the call from his daughter Monday night.

"He came down and was waving for help," he said. "They hand-pulled the ropes in. By the time they pulled him in, he was dead.

"She was standing in the boat watching."

They wanted to parasail together, but for some reason the boat wouldn't pull them both, he said. So Stephanie went first and Sieradzki went next. That's when the boat quit.

Hazel said Sieradzki was a lot of fun and always wonderful to his daughter.

"He was the perfect son-in-law," he said.

Sieradzki worked in information technology in Fountain Inn, S.C. His daughter works in radiology in nearby Greenville, S.C.

"Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the friends and families of the deceased," Coast Guard Cmdr. Peter Martin, deputy commander of Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, said in a statement.

Originally Posted at: www.tampabay.com

Hip-hop singer Sean Kingston reportedly is in critical condition in a Florida hospital after crashing a personal watercraft into Palm Island Bridge in Miami Beach, with a female passenger on board.

Both were rescued by a nearby boater after the incident, which occurred Sunday at about 6 p.m. local time.

Few details were available in the hours after the incident. The Miami Herald reported that Miami Beach Fire Rescue delivered Kingston, 21, to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. (Note: Kingston's publicist on Monday morning said the singer's condition had been stabilized and that he had been moved to the hospital's intensive care unit.)

A representative for Kingston told TMZ: "Sean Kingston was in an accident today. No further details are available at the moment. He and his family thank everyone for the well-wishes."

Kingston, who was born in Miami, became famous in 2007 with the single "Beautiful Girls."

Details about the condition of the female passenger were not immediately available.

Originally Posted at: www.petethomasoutdoors.com

One cruise-ship passenger was killed and another seriously injured in a jet ski accident in the Bahamas on Saturday, according to officials.

Carnival Cruise Lines said on Sunday the crash involved two passengers who had been sailing on the Carnival Sensation ship, officials told WFTV.

Carnival officials have not released the identification of the two passengers involved. The surviving crash victim remains hospitalized in the Bahamas.

The ship left from Port Canaveral in Brevard County on Thursday, headed for Nassau, Bahamas. It returned Sunday.

Originally Posted at: www.orlandosentinel.com

A 69-year-old Bonita Springs man continued to recover tonight after losing his left foot in a boating mishap earlier in the day.

Rosario Pucciarelli was swimming off Vanderbilt Beach in North Naples at about 11 a.m. when a charter boat headed for shore struck him, severing his foot. Emergency rescuers took Pucciarelli to North Collier Hospital, from which he was flown to Lee Memorial Hospital.

He remained there in fair condition.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the boat operator, Brandon Ruganis, 31, was taking his charter boat to shore to pick up passengers when he struck Pucciarelli. Ruganis, of Naples, has not been charged. Gabriella Ferraro, FWC spokeswoman, said Pucciarelli’s severed foot was recovered, but emergency workers were unable to reattach it.

Attempts to reach Pucciarelli’s family Saturday were unsuccessful.

According to the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations, Ruganis owns a business called Safiri Sailing Cruises, which has been in operation since 2005.

Terry Ruganis, 55, had yet to talk with her son after the accident when contacted Saturday. “I’m shocked by it,” she said. “I feel for both of them.”

She said her son had never been in a boating accident before today.

According to an FWC report, there were six boating crashes in Lee County in 2009, compared with five in Collier County the same year. FWC has not released more details as it investigates.
5:39 p.m. update

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has identified a man who lost his foot in a boating accident today as Rosario Pucciarelli, 69, of Bonita Springs.

The operator of the charter boat that struck Pucciarelli is Brandon Ruganis, 31, of Naples.

Ruganis has not been charged, according to FWC.

Gabriella Ferraro, FWC spokeswoman, said rescuers found Pucciarelli’s foot but were unable to reattach it.

Pucciarelli was flown to Lee Memorial Hospital, where he is listed in fair condition.
3:11 p.m. update

A 69-year-old male swimmer lost part of his left leg today after a boating accident on Vanderbilt Beach in North Naples.

The man, who was struck by a boat, is at Lee Memorial Hospital’s trauma center, according to North Naples Fire and Rescue spokesman Jerry Sanford.

Sanford said firefighters received a call at about 11 a.m. regarding a boating accident at the Vanderbilt Beach turnaround.

“I believe the boat went into an area were there were swimmers,” Sanford said.

The boat apparently severed the lower part of the man’s left leg.

“The man was put on a parasail in the water and brought to shore,” Sanford said.

Once on shore, firefighters from North Naples Fire and Rescue attended to the man.

“We also put divers in the water to find the missing limb but were unable to find it,” Sanford said.

Collier County EMS and sheriff's office deputies were also on the scene.

The victim was initially transported to North Collier Hospital and then transported via helicopter to Lee Memorial Hospital.

His identity and condition are unknown at this time.

Originally Posted at: www.news-press.com

A 14-year-old girl in the US is to have her leg amputated after it got caught in a boat’s propeller

A young girl is expected to lose her leg following a horrific accident in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Saturday.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Gabby Desouza is due to undergo surgery to remove her leg today following the incident.

Witnesses described how the horror unfolded after Miss Desouza and friends ran out to meet the boat. As the boat hovered with its engines revving in shallow water, Miss Desouza apparently tried to jump aboard but she moved away as a wave carried the boat towards the shore.

When a second wave hit, the boat was thrown into Miss Desouza and two other girls, with the propeller slashing Miss Desouza's leg.

Initial reports suggest that the boat was a 22ft Cobia.

Police are investigating the incident and have yet to decide if charges will be brought.

Originally Posted at: www.motorboatsmonthly.co.uk

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- One dozen Central Ohioans returned home Saturday after a rough ride on the Mediterranean Sea this week.

Family and friends gathered at Port Columbus International Airport to welcome home the group dubbed "survivors" of Royal Caribbean's "Brilliance of the Seas" cruise.

Winds approaching 70 knots fueled huge waves that smashed into the cruise ship.

AOL Travel News reported more than 100 passengers injuries, parts of the ship were damaged and the company agreed to refund passengers their cruise fares.

Stephan and Regina Douglas of Columbus were sleeping on the ship's 10th level when the seas turned rough. The couple said it felt like the ship tilted to a 45-degree angle.

"It was terrifying. It was like we were ready to lose our life there," Stephen Douglas said. "When it tilted we were just wondering if we were getting ready to go under or what. All the furniture had slid down toward the balcony sliding door. the room was a total wreck there. It was like we had been in a hurricane. It was just that bad there."

Regina Douglas said despite the rough weather experience the couple would cruise again, before Stephan added, "not any time soon."

Originally Posted at: www2.nbc4i.com

Two men are being treated for injuries after their airboat ejected them near the Brevard-Volusia county line early today.

The men had been riding the airboat over mostly dry ground about 7:54 a.m. near Hatbill Road and Baxter Point in Mims when the boat overturned and ejected them, according to Brevard County Fire Rescue.

Both were transported to Parrish Medical Center, but one man was transferred to the trauma center at Holmes Regional Medical Center after doctors determined he had more serious injuries.

Brevard fire rescue and Sheriff's Office personnel provided assistance at the scene with a fire engine, two rescue crews, an airboat and a helicopter. An investigator from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also responded to the scene.

Originally Posted at: www.orlandosentinel.com

Two men have died and six are missing after two commercial vessels collided Tuesday off the east coast of Hong Kong, the city's marine department said, as it expanded an air and sea rescue operation.

At about 3:15 am, police received a report about a sand barge with 14 crew on board colliding with a container vessel with nine crew, a department spokesman told AFP.

Hong Kong's fire services dispatched five rescue boats with about 100 crew to the scene in a frantic bid to find the missing mainland Chinese seamen.

One seaman was discovered dead when his colleagues were plucked to safety, while another's body was found Tuesday afternoon, the spokesman said.

The capsized sand barge sunk below the choppy waters of the South China Sea, but the vessel had not touched the sea bed, a marine department spokesman told a press briefing Tuesday.

"The rescue divers are risking their lives," he said.

"They're trying to get down to the sunken vessel, but the current is extremely strong and the ship is not completely grounded to the sea bed."

The spokesman declined to say what might have caused the accident or comment on the likelihood of finding the missing seamen alive.

"The weather was not good and visibility was poor at the time of the collision," he said.

"There were big waves, but it is normal for large ships to operate under those conditions."

The search would continue for another day or two, the spokesman said.

The dead and missing crew were all from the sand barge, with another six crew from the same vessel treated in hospital.

The container vessel has been taken back to port with its nine crew all safely rescued.

The deadly accident comes less than a week after another barge appeared to be sinking in the middle of Hong Kong's famed Victoria Harbour, setting off panicked calls to emergency services.

A fire boat rushed to the scene but was told that the vessel was intentionally submerged to conduct engineering work.

In January, a Hong Kong court jailed four seamen for the deaths of 18 Ukrainian sailors killed when two vessels collided in 2008, the city's biggest maritime disaster in recent decades.

The four were convicted of endangering the life of others at sea after the court concluded that the collision of Ukrainian tugboat Neftegaz-67 and Chinese cargo ship Yaohai was due to their "deliberate omission to act."

Yuriy Kulemesin, captain of the tugboat, was sentenced to three years and two months imprisonment.

The other three defendants -- Yaohai captain Liu Bo and pilots Tang Dock-wah and Bruce Chun -- were given terms of between 28 months and three years.

Originally Posted at: www.rnw.nl

Passengers aboard the Costa Classica got a scare when the 1,300-passenger cruise ship was damaged in a collision with a cargo ship during an Asia cruise. Some minor injuries were reported among passengers, Italian cruise line Costa Cruises says.

The accident occurred in the Yangtze River as the cruise ship returned to Shanghai from Cheju, Korea, reports Seatrade Insider.

After the 4:46 a.m. collision with the Belgian-flagged Lowlands Longevity, passengers on the Classica were summoned to their emergency muster stations.

Several reported to the ship doctor with minor injuries, and three passengers were sent ashore for medical care, Costa Cruises says.

The ship docked at 10 a.m. The cruise line, which is owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp., canceled the next cruise of the Classica, which was to visit Japan, Korea and Hong Kong.

Seatrade says local news images show the ship docked in Shanghai with a 60-foot scrape or gash along its starboard side on Deck 5, a deck below the lowest level of cabins, but well above the water line.

There were mostly Asian passengers, but also Americans and Canadians on the sailing.

Costa says it is cooperating with Shanghai authorities on an investigation.

Originally Posted at: news.travel.aol.com

CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla. - A Lawrenceville woman injured in a recent parasailing accident in Clearwater Beach, Florida has died.

An official with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told FOX 5 News that Alejandra White died late Saturday morning as a result of her injuries.

It was reported last week, the tow line connecting White and her fiancé, Shaun Ladd, to the boat broke sending the couple into several poles on the beach.

White had been listed in critical condition at Bayfront Medical Center since the accident. Ladd escaped with minor injuries.

Originally Posted at: www.myfoxatlanta.com

A doctor, a bank director and the chairman of a law firm are spearheading a seven-figure High Court battle with a British cruise operator after their luxury liner was hit by a glacier.

The MV Alexy Maryshev was on a ten-day sightseeing cruise in the Arctic around the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen when a glacier 'calved' an iceberg, creating massive shockwaves and littering the deck of the ship with slabs of ice.

The ship, which was carrying 48 British passengers had stopped near the glacier on August 8 2007 for passengers to take photographs when the ice and waves struck, London's High Court heard.

Now 16 injured tourists, including a bank director who suffered a fractured skull, have launched damages claims against tour operator, Discover the World Ltd, based in Banstead, Surrey, who sold them the £2,495 cruise packages, but who deny all liability in the case.

Among the passengers claiming damages are Dr Philip Lawson, of Loughborough, who suffered fractured ribs, and Donald Reid, 59, of Bearsden, near Glasgow, who is chairman of Glasgow-based law firm, Mitchells Roberton, whose injuries included a fractured clavicle and scapula.

Bank director, Andrew Burnett, 31, of Great Missenden, Bucks, sustained a fractured skull and is suing alongside his wife, Leigh.

Also claiming compensation are Valerie Georgina Greaves, 49, of Sheffield, who suffered shoulder injuries, and David Michael Bishop, of Ambergate, Derbyshire, who sustained multiple fractures and life-threatening lung injuries.

During a preliminary hearing at London's High Court, before Mr Justice Blair, Nigel Cooper QC, for Dr Lawson and others, said several of the passengers had photographs to back up their case that the vessel had been steered dangerously close to the glacier.

'A number of them were actually standing on the foredeck as the glacier calved and there is an issue as to how close the vessel was. A number of the claimants have photographs showing the proximity of the vessel just before and just after the incident,' he said.

'There may be an issue as to the timing of when the photographs were taken and when the incident occurred,' he told the judge.

Mr Cooper added that other issues will include 'the magnitude of the surge waves' caused by the falling ice, 'the nature of the vessel's response' and the 'foreseeability' of the incident.

The local safety regime and the code of safe navigation in Arctic waters would also have a part to play in the case, he said.

Mr Justice Blair heard that the claims of most of the passengers, who suffered relatively minor injuries, would amount to less than £50,000 each. But Nicholas Saunders, for Mr Burnett, said he would be lodging a 'substantial' claim for loss of earnings.

The trial on the issue of liability, set to last five to six days, is expected to commence at the High Court in March next year, with a pre-trial review in January or February, the court heard.

Mr Justice Blair also directed that the trial judge should have the assistance of an expert nautical assessor should he require it.

Originally Posted at: www.dailymail.co.uk

TRENTON, Fla. (AP) ― A state wildlife officer was seriously injured after he fell off his boat while patrolling a north Florida river.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that 34-year-old Billy Giles was alone on the 16-foot boat on the Santa Fe River Saturday evening. Authorities say he let go of the steering wheel to keep his hat from blowing off his head, and the boat jerked to the right, throwing Giles overboard.

FWC says the boat then circled around back toward Giles, who was pulled under and hit by the propeller. The boat grounded itself, and Giles walked to a nearby boat ramp for help.

Giles was taken to a Gainesville hospital, where he underwent surgery Sunday.

Giles has been with the FWC since 2001.

Originally Posted at: www.cbs4.com

A 60-year-old St. Petersburg commercial crabber was killed today when his 20-foot runabout struck the 4th Street Bridge in north St. Petersburg.

Phillip Johnson, 6618 14th Street North, was operating the vessel just after 10:30 a.m. when it hit the bridge support and then careened out of control into some nearby mangroves, officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

Cheryl Fitzrandolph said she saw the boat approaching at full throttle as she fished under the bridge.

"He never slowed down," she said. "As the boat went under the bridge we heard a loud thump."

Investigators are trying to determine whether there was a mechanical problem with the boat or whether Johnson may have suffered a medical condition. An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday.

Gary Morse, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said it's the third time this year a boat has struck a bridge in the Bay area.

Originally Posted at: www2.tbo.com

HOLIDAY, Fla. -- One person was killed and several others injured in a Pasco County boat crash.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that 59-year-old Michael Billiris of Tarpon Springs was killed when two boats collided Tuesday in Anclote River in Holiday.

Investigators say the impact of the collision caused Billiris' boat to exit the river and enter nearby mangroves.

A passenger in the victim's 21-foot boat and three others onboard on the second vessel suffered non-life threatening injuries.

The accident remains under investigation.

Originally Posted at: www.miamiherald.com

An East Naples man was killed Thursday night in a boating accident after he was “slung” into another vessel north of Keewaydin Island, according to authorities.

Emil Dan Prunean, 31, originally from Medias, Romania, suffered fatal injuries when his flotation tube, being towed by a Yamaha WaveRunner, collided with a Kawasaki Jet Ski, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report.

According the report, Liviu Vasile Nicolsescu was operating the vessel towing Prunean, when he collided with the other vessel, at 7:20 p.m. on Thursday night, the report said.

The second personal watercraft was carrying three occupants.

There were no other injuries or any sign of alcohol consumption reported.

Reverend Ovidiu Pacurar, of St. Polycarp of Smyrna Mission in Naples, a church that serves the local Romanian community, says Prunean came from Romania to the United States just over three years ago.

Prunian worked at the Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort and lived locally with his sister, Pacurar said. Prunean’s father passed away eight weeks ago in his hometown of Medias, a small industrial city in central Romania, Pacurar said.

“He was a good kid,” Pacurar said, adding that Prunean came to the United States looking for a better life with more opportunities.

Like a lot of young Romanian immigrants, Pacurar said that Prunean worked hard to achieve the “American Dream.”

“They come here and they struggle,” Pacurar said.

Originally Posted at: www.naplesnews.com

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says an 11-year-old boy is dead after he fell off a boat near Plantation Key.

Investigators say Michael Duda was riding in the 17-foot boat Friday evening when the operator made a sharp left turn. The Fort Myers boy was thrown overboard and struck by the vessel.

Duda was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The agency says a 16-year-old boy was operating the boat when the accident occurred. Neither he nor two other passengers aboard the vessel were injured.

No charges have been filed.

The wife of Highlands County Commissioner Jeff Carlson died Sunday from injuries suffered in a boating accident in Indian River County.

Jeff Carlson was reportedly driving the boat.

County Commission Chairman Don Bates expressed his sadness over the entire affair, and stressed that many in the community would be there if needed.

"We are very saddened by this turn of events. Our hearts and our prayers go out to Jeff and his family. This is a tragic event, one that stricken the whole county. We have all offered via e-mail to assist in anyway we could," Bates said Tuesday.

Julie Carlson, 39, was injured when the 22-foot Proline Center Console boat she was riding in glanced a piling on the Indian River, according to reports from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

Julie Carlson hit either the piling or a sign attached to it, according to reports, but she was not thrown from the boat, which immediately returned to the dock for help.

She was airlifted to Melbourne Hospital Saturday evening with severe injuries to her head, and then died from those injuries on Sunday at Holmes Regional Medical Center.

TCPalm.com stated that the Carlsons, along with Scott and Annie Noethlich, had pulled into Captain Hiram's Resort in Sebastian earlier Saturday evening. Soctt Noethlich, the Sebring city administrator, is Julie Carlson's brother.

The group left the dock sometime after 10 p.m., and investigators reported the boat accelerated on plane before striking the piling about 100 yards east of the dock.

TCPalm.com reported that there was evidence of alcohol in the vessel, which was confirmed by the FWC on Monday.

FWC Public Information Officer Lenny Salbert stated that blood samples were taken from the Carlsons and were being tested for alcohol levels.

"There was evidence of alcohol in the boat; cans and bottles in the boat," Joy Hill, spokeswoman for FWC was reported as stating.

Salbert also stated that Jeff Carlson could be charged with vessel homicide.

"We took the samples because probable cause existed. At this time, Jeff has not been detained," Salbert said. "We are still doing our initial 24-hour report, and not much is available right now."

According to Salbert, an autopsy will determine the cause of death and the accident remains under investigation.

Gary Morse, the Southwest Region Public Information Officer for the FWC, the area that covers Highlands County, told the News-Sun on Tuesday that no charges were currently filed, and that the process may take months

"We are not through with our investigation," Morse said. "We have to get the results from the ME (medical examiner) and the blood tests back and interview all of the witnesses before we can decide if charges will be filed," Morse said. "I would not expect anything immediately."

A Sebring woman has died from injuries she received Saturday night when the boat in which she was a passenger struck a piling in the Indian River about 100 yards east of docks at Captain Hiram’s Resort.

Julie Carlson, 39, died Sunday at Holmes Regional Medical Center, said Joy Hill, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Game Conservation Commission, which is investigating the accident. She was airlifted to the Melbourne hospital Saturday night.

Hill said Carlson was in a 22-foot center console boat being operated by her husband, Jeffrey D. Carlson, 40, when its port bow hit a glancing blow off the piling.

Julie Carlson hit either the piling or a sign attached to it, Hill added. She was not thrown from the boat, which immediately returned to the dock for help.

Hill said the couple, along with Jeffrey Carlson’s brother and sister-in-law, had pulled into Captain Hiram’s earlier Saturday the evening. They left the dock sometime after 10 p.m. She said investigators reported the boat accelerated on plane before striking the piling.

“There was evidence of alcohol in the boat; cans and bottles in the boat,” Hill said.

It is expected an autopsy will be done to determine the cause of death and the accident remains under investigation, Hill added.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday released recordings of radio communications after this month's collision between a tour boat and a barge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Thirty-seven people were on board the smaller duck boat in the Delaware River on July 7 when the accident occurred. Two people, both from Hungary, were killed.

"Hey ferry, ferry, ferry! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" an unidentified voice yelled early in the incident, apparently witnessing the collision.

A tug boat then called in to a Coast Guard radio center.

"This is Freedom. We got people in the water on Penn's Landing. It looks like they got run over by a barge. One of the duck boats. I am going in to pick 'em up."

"Roger, captain. How many persons are in the water? Over."

"No idea. I don't have time to talk to you right now. I am going to get the people."

The Coast Guard radio operator then advised other vessels to assist in the search for the 37 passengers.

Duck boat crew members told investigators that they made radio calls to the tug boat Caribbean Sea that were not answered prior to the collision, the National Transportation Safety Board said earlier this month.

The Caribbean Sea was pushing the barge that collided with the tour boat, causing it to sink in 55 feet of water, the report said.

The skipper of the Caribbean Sea can be heard on the recordings, responding to a Coast Guard call.

"We are right here next to the ship Freedom. We are the ones that, I guess, capsized the duck boat. We're on scene just making sure that no one got injured or if we can help in anyway. We do have a barge alongside, so there's not too much we can do."

The Coast Guard radio person then asked him to throw any needed life jackets into the water.

One of five crew members of the Caribbean Sea invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to meet with investigators, the safety board said earlier this month.

According to CNN affiliate WPVI, these recordings are just some of the many elements federal investigators are reviewing as they probe the circumstances surrounding the collision. They also continue to examine the structural damage of both vessels.

The tour boat, the DUKW 34, carried 35 passengers and two crew members when it experienced mechanical problems about five to 10 minutes before the crash, the NTSB report said. That problem led the ship's master to anchor the tour boat.

Meanwhile, the Caribbean Sea approached with the barge.

Around 2:36 p.m., the bow of the barge hit the small tour boat, causing it to sink, investigators said.

People who operated several vessels in the area have told federal investigators that they heard the tour boat's radio calls.

The National Traffic Safety Board said it's looking into those accounts.

MIAMI -- Authorities with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say a father and his 6-year-old daughter visiting from Chicago were injured while parasailing.

The accident happened early Monday evening in the waters off of downtown Miami.

Officials say the family's parasail malfunctioned after going up into the air, dragging the pair through the water and then back up again when the boat's tow rope broke and a gust of wind came in.

The two hit a sea wall and were eventually dropped on land.

Both were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital and suffered bumps and bruises.

The name of the parasailing company, nor the identities of the victims, have been released.

Citrus County, Fla. - A man was badly injured when he fell out of a boat on the Homosassa River Wednesday night.

The man, who deputies say is in his 20s, was run over by the boat's propellor.

The call came into emergency officials at 9 p.m. Wednesday night from the Homosassa Channel.

The victim's legs were nearly amputated, according to the Florida Wildlife Commission. He's identified as a 23-year-old male.

A spokesperson with the FWC says the man and another person were traveling along the river when someone walked away from the wheel to adjust the boat's radio. The boat made an unexpected sharp right turn and one of the men fell off the boat.

The man was flown by medical helicopter to TGH.

His condition is unknown.

A 13-year-old boy is suffering from severe injuries after he was involved in a boating accident Thursday.

"He fell into the water. The vessel was not able to stop on time, and the vessel just ran over the young man," said Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

On Friday, Parker Brannon was still in critical condition, recovering at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

FWC officials said 17-year-old Kyle Jenson was driving the boat, and Brannon's 18-year-old brother, Andrew, was also on board.

Investigators said they believe the boat hit a wave and knocked the teenager in the water near Black Point Marina. The propeller then partially cut Parker's right arm and his left shoulder. "Any injury is a bad injury. He suffered some pretty extensive injuries," said Pino.

Thursday night, friends of the family said the Brannons are hoping for the best. "They're waiting to hear from the surgeons," said one man.

FWC said, after the accident, Parker's brother and friend quickly brought him to land and called for help. "It could of been a lot worse. The older brother and the operator of the vessel did exactly what they were supposed to do," said Pino.

FWC is investigating the crash. They're also waiting to interview Parker.

Investigators said, as of right now, this appears to be just a horrific accident.

A boat collision at an aqueous Memorial Day hot spot took the lives of a father and his pregnant daughter Monday, May 31, 2010. The tragic two-boat wreck happened near Disappearing Island in Volusia County, Florida, as reported by ClickOrlando.com.

Reports indicated 46-year-old Cyril Holley and his 19-year-old daughter Madison Holley were riding in a vessel when the unthinkable occurred. Another boat seemingly hurdled over Holley’s watercraft, crashing on top of it. Additional family members and friends reportedly occupied the second vessel involved.

According to witness Ryan Yadav, “The larger boat was just jumping off waves… I think it just took too much speed on and went right over. Cut the awning right off.”

FWC Spokesperson Joy Hill noted the crash occurred directly across from a United States Coast Guard (USCG) station.

Both Cyril and Madison Holley suffered fatal injuries in the boat collision. Madison Holley was apparently expected to give birth in two weeks. Her unborn child was also killed in the boating accident.

Reports stated two others were taken to area hospitals for treatment. The father of the unborn child was also allegedly onboard one of the vessels involved in the wreck. However, it was not disclosed if he was amongst those who received medical attention.

Investigations into the fatal Ponce Inlet boat crash are expected to be underway.

Legal News Reporter: Sandra Quinlan- Legal News for Florida Boat Accident Lawyers.

PONCE INLET — A busy Memorial Day holiday at the beach along Volusia County turned tragic when two boats collided in Ponce Inlet, killing a DeLand-area man, his adult daughter and the woman's unborn baby.

The crash occurred when a 25-foot boat ran over the top of a smaller boat at about 4 p.m., said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is investigating the crash.

All of those killed were aboard the smaller boat, a 17-foot 2006 Sundance, Hill said.

She identified the three victims as Cyril J. Holley Jr., 46, his daughter, Madison Holley, 19, and her unborn child. Both lived at the same address on Hontoon Road near DeLand.

Hill did not know the gender of the unborn baby, but said the child was "just weeks away from being born."

Three people told officers they were injured. Two of them were admitted to Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach, she said. Neither their names nor the extent of their injuries was released. The third person who was hurt refused treatment, Hill said.

It was not known which of the boats the injured where aboard.

There were seven people aboard the smaller boat and six on the other vessel, a 25-foot 1989 Chaparral, Hill said.

All of them were either related or knew each other, Hill said. "It's very, very tragic," she said.

Investigators are looking into the possibility that the wake from another boat might have contributed to the crash, said Hill, adding that fatal boating accident investigations "often take months to complete."

The crash occurred in the Intracoastal Waterway, "right across from the Coast Guard station," Hill said. It was just south of Disappearing Island, she said.

Disappearing Island is an area that forms from sandbars when the tide goes out, said Capt. Scott Petersohn of the Volusia County Beach Patrol. People like to go there "because there are no real rules about drinking," he said.

Some of the victims were taken to Disappearing Island before rescue workers arrived, said Petersohn, whose agency used its boats to transport some of the occupants of the two boats to shore.

The beaches were packed Monday as locals and tourists alike celebrated the holiday that signals the beginning of summer.

"It was a crazy day today," Petersohn said. "We had a huge crowd."

An Onalaska man is recovering at Gundersen Lutheran after being injured in a boating accident in Florida earlier this month.

35-year-old Jason Baldner was a passenger in a boat that hit a sea wall at a high rate of speed, went airborne, and landed in a vacant lot in Cape Coral, Florida.

Baldner was severely injured, and after spending two weeks at a Florida hospital, he was transported by plane to La Crosse last night.

He'll continue to receive treatment at Gundersen Lutheran in their intensive care unit.

Two other men injured in the accident, including an Onalaska native, were discharged from the hospital earlier this week.

SAN DIEGO - Alan DeWeese says his lights were on when a Coast Guard boat rammed his 26-foot Sea Ray, killing his 8-year-old son and injuring five others on board.

The lights are just one reason witnesses and survivors are struggling to understand why the Coast Guard boat crashed into the packed recreational boat Sunday night at the 38th annual San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, a popular showcase for boats decked in Christmas lights.

DeWeese had borrowed his father's boat and invited two other families to watch the parade on its 5-mile route past downtown skyscrapers and the famed Coronado Bridge. The 33-foot Coast Guard patrol boat, meanwhile, was responding to a report of a grounded vessel.

"It seemed like it was going full speed when it hit," said Barbara Maloney, who watched from her 6th-floor hotel room. "We didn't notice them slow down at all. I assume they didn't see it."

The Coast Guard has not yet provided answers. It expressed condolences to the DeWeese family Monday and said three probes were under way. The National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to San Diego, and the Coast Guard and San Diego Harbor Police also are investigating.

"We look forward to discovering what the facts were," Capt. Thomas Farris, commander of the Coast Guard's San Diego sector, told reporters Monday.

There were 13 people aboard the DeWeese boat Sunday. Anthony Cole DeWeese, 8, died in the crash. Two other children were injured and taken to Rady Children's Hospital, and three adults were transported to University of California, San Diego Medical Center, Fire Department spokesman Maurice Luque said.

None of the five people on the Coast Guard boat were injured.

Bob Furry was watching from his hotel room when he said he saw a boat blaze across the bay with a flashing blue light.

"We said, 'Jeez, it's going really fast.' We thought it was some kind of hot-dogger," he said.

Alan DeWeese turned around, but it was too late. He estimates the Coast Guard boat was traveling 35 mph to 45 mph and that he was moving no faster than 3 1/2 mph.

"I thought, why is he going so fast? I figured he was going to turn at some point but he kept coming at us," DeWeese, 44, told The Associated Press on Monday.

"He came up so fast I didn't have time to react," DeWeese said.

Roger DeWeese said his deceased grandson had been an ice hockey goalie.

"He was a spark plug," said DeWeese, who was not on the boat during the crash. "He liked just about everything."

The boy's father, also a hockey player, said his son enjoyed life to the fullest.

During the parade in San Diego Sunday, boaters festooned their decks with Christmas lights. In keeping with this year's theme, "Christmas at the Zoo," some participants dressed up as giraffes and pandas.

There were about 80 boats in this year's parade, from a 12-foot canoe to a 157-foot yacht.

The parade drew about 80,000 people on Dec. 13 and again Sunday, said Ron Sheehan, vice chairman.

Associated Press Writer Greg Risling in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Two brothers died early Saturday morning when a 23-foot Bayliner slammed into their 21-foot Hewes near Dinner Key, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Charles W. Clayton, 32, and Wade A. Clayton, 33, were killed in the crash, FWC spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro said.

The crash happened just before midnight Friday about two miles south of Dinner Key and about a mile out from shore.

Wade Clayton was a professional fisherman and his brother was also an experienced angler, said their mother, Joyce Clayton.

"It was a tragic accident and I love and miss them dearly," said Joyce Clayton, standing in the driveway of her Kendall home, her eyes red with tears. "I just can't beleive they're gone."

Ferraro said the impact tossed the two brothers and 31-year-old passenger Brandon P. Foster from the Hewes.

The collision also tossed overboard one of the passengers on the Bayliner, according to Fire Rescue spokesperson Lt. Ignatius Carroll.

After the impact, the 23-foot boat came around, the passenger tossed off the boat was able to swim back and that's when they started hearing cries for help, Carroll said. They pulled one survivor out but he was not breathing.

"They made a desperate attempt to revive him but were unsuccessful," Carroll said.

Alan Almond, the Clayton brothers' step-father, said Charles Clayton, of Palmetto Bay, was found at the crash site and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The two passengers aboard the Bayliner called rescuers and made several attempts to fire off flares but their flare gun wasn't working, said Carroll. The GPS coordinates they gave rescuers were innaccurate, he said.

Wade Clayton, of Plantation Key, was found over an hour later by a Miami-Dade fire boat and was pronounced dead, Almond and Carroll said.

Foster was taken to Mercy Hospital with unknown injuries, Ferraro said.

Burt Korpela, owner of Atlantis Marine Towing & Salvage, said he heard the call over the radio and went to the site of the crash.

Debris was scattered everywhere and marine patrol and divers were searching for bodies when Korpela arrived.

"The boat was all ripped apart. The steering station was ripped right out and there was a big crunch on the top deck," said Korpela, 38. "I saw the bodies. This was kind of a gory sight."

Almond said the two brothers were experienced fishermen who had travelled to Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Caribbean on fishing trips. They had gone out fishing for bait they planned to use on a future fishing trip.

The men on the 23-foot Bayliner had gone out to help friends having boat problems when the collision occured, Ignatius said. "The odds were 50 million to 1," said Almond. "They were one of the only boats out there."

The 46-year-old driver of the Bayliner, Paudides Machado, had not been charged in the crash as of 11 a.m. Saturday.

"At this point we don't know if charges will be filed," Ferraro said. "We don't know if anyone was speeding or if alcohol was involved."

Wade Clayton is survived by his 5-year-old son, Caiden, who was celebrating his birthday in New York City on the same day his father died.

Both brothers are survived by their father Charles Clayton Sr., mother Joyce, and brothers Chad and Colby.

The cruise line industry endorsed proposed federal rules requiring peepholes on cabin doors, though many ships already have them.

The cruise ship industry has agreed to new safety rules making it easier to find out who's knocking at a cabin door.

A federal bill mandating peepholes and safety latches for passenger cabins won the backing of the Cruise Lines International Association this week, a rare concession from an industry known to oppose new regulations from Washington.

"It is an historic development," said Kendall Carver, president of International Cruise Victims, a leading critic of ocean liner safety records.

While peepholes and latches are commonplace in hotels, the devices aren't standard on cruise ships. Closing that gap became a top priority of cruise line critics after a series of well-publicized disappearances and crimes on ocean liners in recent years.

Industry backers characterized the controversy as an over-reaction, saying the isolated environs of a ship are far safer than hotels and other vacation options.

But Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., pushed for tougher safety rules for ships that typically operate out of U.S. ports but are registered in other countries.

In a letter to Kerry, Terry Dale, president of the Fort Lauderdale-based cruise lines association, also endorsed a provision in the bill requiring operators to quickly report serious crimes that occur on ships, train medical personnel on sexual-assault examinations and keep a log of minor incidents such as theft.

But Dale hinged his support on Kerry dropping another provision of his bill that would let families of victims of cruise ship deaths sue operators for pain and suffering. Current admirality law only allows them to sue for lost wages and funeral expenses for an incident on the high seas. Kerry's office could not say late Tuesday afternoon whether the senator would accept the compromise.

The Kerry-sponsored Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009 would bring changes to the cabins of many passengers. A draft of the bill requires peepholes for all existing ships and also safety latches for vessels built after the law takes effect.

Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise operator, already has peepholes on its doors, as does Royal Caribbean, its biggest rival, media representatives said Tuesday.

Royal Caribbean said its doors do not have latches, while a Carnival spokeswoman could not give a definitive answer Tuesday afternoon. Norwegian Cruise Line has door latches but not peepholes, a spokeswoman said.

Stewart Chiron, who runs the website cruiseguy.com, dismissed the proposed law, saying it doesn't address the causes of most shipboard incidents: drunken passengers falling off ships and socializing with crew members away from supervised areas of the ships.

"None of these incidents were a result of not having these safety measures," he said.

Our renowned team of lawyers has extensive experience representing persons injured in boating accidents. If you have been searching for a boating accident attorney, Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A. is your greatest resource for boating accident litigation information.
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Maritime and Admiralty Law often deal with the application of law to events that occur on navigable waters. If you or someone you love has been involved in a boating accident we invite you to speak directly with one of our highly qualified boating accident lawyers. For more information regarding our boating accident attorney services and qualifications please feel free to contact us.

Take a look at some of our verdicts and settlements in this area and let us put our experience to work for you.

TAMPA, FL -- Six members of an extended family remain hospitalized after their pleasure boat exploded Saturday afternoon.

Florida Fish and Wildlife officials say 11 family members were aboard the 33-foot, twin engine boat when it exploded and burned to the waterline Saturday afternoon while anchored in 3 feet of water off what's known as Beer Can Island.

Six family members, including one child, were seriously injured and flown to Tampa General Hospital.

Officials identified the injured as the boat's operator, George Meyer, his wife Nancy, of Apollo Beach; 7-year-old Logan Meyer, 36-year-old Angela Meyer of Denver, Iowa, and Carrie Atherton and her husband Mike of Lutz.

"We've got a range from smoke inhalation all the way up to some burns and some very serious injuries to at least two of the people," Florida Fish and Wildlife spokesman Major Don Post said.

A spokeswoman for Tampa General Hospital said the family had asked that their conditions be kept private.

Five other children were treated for smoke inhalation. Three other family members were wading in the nearby water and weren't hurt.

Captain Mark Bogush of Tampa Fire Rescue says the explosion blew some people into the water, where they were helped by others who were boating nearby.

The cause of the explosion remains unknown.

Morse said the boat's twin engines were not operating at the time, although a gasoline generator was. It's believed a buildup of fumes in the bilge area may have caused the explosion.

The family left Apollo Beach around 10:30 a.m. and had docked at Pine Key, which is also called Beer Can Island, a popular place for boaters to anchor.

"Six children were forward watching a movie, five adults were in the aft portion of the vessel and three others were wading 30 feet from the boat when there was an explosion in the rear portion of the vessel," Morse said.

Other boaters and authorities -- including the U.S. Coast Guard and emergency crews from nearby MacDill Air Force Base -- came to the aid of the burning boat.

Brevard 8th in state in boating accidents

Three people died on Brevard County waters in 2008, but officers say a lifejacket likely would have saved their lives and the lives of most of the 51 others in Florida who died during what was supposed to be a fun day on the water.

"Seventy percent of all fatalities were not wearing their lifejackets," said Lenny Salberg, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Despite having 226 fewer registered vessels, Brevard saw three more accidents in 2008 than in 2007, two more deaths, four more injuries and $29,500 more in damage, according to 2008 state statistics released this week.

The county had one accident for every 1,486 registered vessels in 2008, ranking it the eighth worst in Florida.

All of Brevard's three fatalities happened on the Indian River Lagoon, two in one incident. None of the three people were wearing lifejackets.

On May 5, 2008, Thomas and Margaret Donnelly, both 69 and from Rockledge, were trying to dock at Valencia Road and Rockledge Drive. Margaret Donnelly fell overboard as she was walking toward the bow of their 30-foot boat to help with the docking.

Her husband tried to throw her dock lines, but then "accidentally ran over her, causing severe propeller injuries," the commission's incident report said.

Thomas Donnelly then dove into the lagoon. His wife drowned, and he was overcome by choppy waters and exhaustion as he tried to save her, police said. He died after three days in the intensive care unit.

Late Sunday, Nov. 23, Jonathan S.E. Waters, 31, of Merritt Island launched a borrowed 12-foot-long canoe from the end of Pine Island Road on Merritt Island. He was going fishing but never returned.

His lifejacket and overturned canoe were found floating near where he had launched.

On Dec. 3, a friend found Waters facedown in 18 inches of water, 10 feet from the Indian River banks. Waters was a father of three and a former lifeguard.

Airboat incident

While fewer boats go there, the St. Johns River's narrow, bending channels proved perilous on July 21. Two airboats -- one with two occupants, another with three -- collided that day as they approached a narrow trail called Sweetwater Canal.

Everyone survived, but there were severe injuries, including cuts, broken bones and internal bruising.

Officers cited both airboat operators -- one a water management district employee who was on duty with the passenger of the boat -- for allegedly not maintaining a safe speed, an insufficient number of personal floatation devices and other safety violations.

Both were charged with second-degree misdemeanors of breaking navigation rules. Both have pleaded not guilty. They are due in court on June 10.

Water management officials said no disciplinary action has been taken by the district against the employee involved and declined to comment further.

Accident this year

Brevard's most recent boating accident took the life of a retired Orlando police officer who had organized an outing that included a Boy Scout troop from Orlando, all with special needs. They were to go fishing and eat lunch on a spoil island. The group launched on April 17 from Bairs Cove at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

As the boat approached the spoil island, the retired officer dove into the water to save a 16-year-old boy who either fell or jumped from his boat, according to the wildlife commission's report.

The teen's mother drove the boat back to pick them up, jumped in to help her son to the boat's edge, then swam for the man. He was facedown in the water and later died in the hospital.

"He would have lived if he had been wearing his lifejacket," said Salberg, the commission spokesman.

Everyone survived, but there were severe injuries, including cuts, broken bones and internal bruising.
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Officers cited both airboat operators -- one a water management district employee who was on duty with the passenger of the boat -- for allegedly not maintaining a safe speed, an insufficient number of personal floatation devices and other safety violations.

Both were charged with second-degree misdemeanors of breaking navigation rules. Both have pleaded not guilty. They are due in court on June 10.

Water management officials said no disciplinary action has been taken by the district against the employee involved and declined to comment further.
Accident this year

Brevard's most recent boating accident took the life of a retired Orlando police officer who had organized an outing that included a Boy Scout troop from Orlando, all with special needs. They were to go fishing and eat lunch on a spoil island. The group launched on April 17 from Bairs Cove at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

As the boat approached the spoil island, the retired officer dove into the water to save a 16-year-old boy who either fell or jumped from his boat, according to the wildlife commission's report.

The teen's mother drove the boat back to pick them up, jumped in to help her son to the boat's edge, then swam for the man. He was facedown in the water and later died in the hospital.

"He would have lived if he had been wearing his lifejacket," said Salberg, the commission spokesman.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has released the boating accident occur when someone isn’t paying attention or is driving too fast. Cates cautions boaters to slow down and stay alert to their surroundings.

Drowning is the leading cause of boating fatalities, even though most of the victims reportedly knew how to swim.

“The greatest way to ensure that you and your passengers make it home at the end of the day is to get into the habit of wearing a life jacket,” Cates said.

He also said boaters should be especially careful when consuming alcoholic beverages.

The FWC also suggests that if going offshore, boaters should invest in an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon so rescuers can find them promptly in the event of trouble.

“We want boaters to have fun and return home safely,” Cates said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation of the fatal power boat accident that killed five people and injured nine on Florida's east coast.

"We are looking at the man, the machine and the environment," NTSB member Deborah A.P. Hersman said at a Monday afternoon briefing.

Hersman revealed that there were 14 people in the 22-foot power boat that crashed into the rear of the tug at about 7 p.m. Sunday near Palm Valley in St. Johns County, about 25 miles southeast of Jacksonville. Investigators had earlier said 12 people were aboard the boat.

The NTSB is working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the U.S. Coast Guard and the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.

NTSB investigators will look over evidence collected by local authorities and interview witnesses and crash survivors.

Hersman said the NTSB doesn't investigate many boating accidents, but said this case with five fatalities and nine injuries met the agency's criteria for a serious accident that warranted special attention.

"Our investigations are very comprehensive and we leave no stone unturned," she said.

The primary focus is to learn lessons that can be applied to prevent future accidents, Hersman said.

Six accident victims are being treated Shands Jacksonville hospital. Two were in critical condition Monday, one was in serious condition and three were in fair condition. Authorities have not said where the other three survivors were being treated.

Debi Davis and her husband Herb, who live near the accident scene, watched as rescuers pulled the victims from a narrow section of the waterway.

"You could hear screaming as they pulled one woman out on a gurney board," Davis said.

Visibility was clear when the power boat hit the tug, but Davis said she was surprised by the amount of damage and the death toll.

"I don't know how they could have missed it, the tug is hard to miss," she said.

Davis said the waterway is usually busy on Sundays.

The five killed all died at the scene, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. They were identified as Jacqueline R. Allen, 44, of Jacksonville; Robert Trenton Craig, 23, of Jacksonville Beach; Elizabeth L. Rosenfeld, 20, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; Inmaculada Pierce, 42, of Orange Park, Fla.; and Olivia Rose Carretero, 23, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

The injured were identified as Justin Thomas Moore, 23, Melvin D. Bethel, 37, and Jacqueline M. Collins, 23, all of Ponte Vedra Beach; Karey Rae Cavicchioli, 19, and Britney Nicole Joyce, 19, both of Jacksonville Beach; and Jaimie A. Hole, 22, and Amanda Barton, 22, both of Santa Rosa, Calif. Authorities also said that Josh Moore, 19, and Frank Moore, age unknown, both from California, hometown unknown, survived.

"Investigators are looking at anything that may have caused this," Hill said. That includes the speed and capacity of the boat, lighting conditions and whether alcohol may have been a factor.

Investigators have been tightlipped about what they have learned.

Chuck Mulligan, a spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, said deputies and paramedics had to scramble to find construction material to build a bridge to the victims on the pier under construction.

"They did this knowing time was critical and once medical treatment was given those patients, they would be need to be brought off the crash site and on the makeshift dock," Mulligan said.

The hapless cruise ship MSC Fantasia is back in Palma after a two week voyage to the Western Mediterranean.

The Italian owned MSC Cruises launched the 133,500-ton cruise liner Fantasia in December 2008. With capacity for 3,300 passengers the boat is one of the largest cruise ships around, I believe. Sadly, when the vessel docked in Palma two weeks ago there was an unfortunate incident with the cruise ship snapping away from the port wall in Palma’s harbour in windy gusts of up to 110 km per hour. The mishap caused an accident resulting in serious injuries to an 80 year old cruise passenger who had to be treated in the Intensive Care Unit of a Palma hospital.

The 333 metre-long vessel is mighty big with its 12 storeys. Apart from its passenger capacity, there are 1,325 crew members on board as well.

Special deals are now on offer in the UK for Inside Cabins at £ 699 and for Balcony Cabins at £ 799 per person, including flights from the UK to Genoa (Italy). A cruise at that price is for 7 nights in April, calling at Naples, Palermo, La Goulette (for Tunis), Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona and Marseille. Whether or not one could join the cruise here in Palma, I do not know.

You may or may not have heard about the sinking of MV Dive Asia 1 a few days ago. This is the liveaboard boat based in Phuket that we were on recently. We featured this trip in our first few FiNS TV clips.

Given that we’re in Lembeh, it’s taken some time to get accurate information. We felt that it was best to refrain from posting anything about this accident until we had something worthwhile to post.

Below is a statement direct from the owners of the boat. Clearly, this is a tragic turn of events, and our heartfelt sympathy and support go out to all concerned.

For obvious reasons, we will discontinue our FiNS TV posts relating to MV Dive Asia 1.

From Juergen, Benno and the entire Dive Asia Team

With a sad heart we read all the wrong information about the sinking of the MV Dive Asia I in the media and in the internet. Even here in Phuket we hear a lot of speculation that is untrue, and we would like to take this opportunity to give you the facts as of today.

On the 8th of March at about 5:30PM the MV Dive Asia departed from the Similan Islands in perfect weather conditions for a routine return to Phuket. Great visibility, very light winds with no noticeable waves.

10:26PM: A guest sent an SMS to her family telling them that she was already on the way back to Phuket, where she would disembark in the morning, and that the weather had been perfect with no rain during the entire trip.

10:50PM: After entering a sudden thunderstorm, the boat was hit by a vortex and capsized. There were no high waves. The wind was why the boat capsized. This happened so quickly and without warning that not even an alarm could be sounded. On board were 30 people:

8 Thai Crew
3 Dive Guides
19 Guests of various nationalities

The boat sank within one minute, but 23 of the 30 people on board were able to leave the sinking ship. The two life rafts on board deployed, and after a while, all 23 people were able to get on the life rafts.

The survivors searched for the missing people, but could not find anybody. After about 45 minutes the sea was calm again, and the life rafts drifted. Two sailing boats passed close to the life rafts, but did not respond to the red signal flares fired.

March 9th 8:00AM
Benno Brandon arrived at Chalong Pier in order to meet the boat and greet the guests, and also to have breakfast with them before they disembarked. Arriving at the end of the pier, he saw that the boat was not there.

After calling all the boat’s numbers and trying to contact the boat by radio, he contacted his partner Juergen Schenker to check if there was any information about why the boat arrival back to port was delayed.

Realizing that something was wrong, we notified the authorities through our Thai Manager Ms. Wimonrat Bangthao at around 8:30AM. We then started our own search for the boat by speed boat and also from land from the top of a nearby mountain.

Our last contact with the boat had been around 10:00PM, and the boat had been between the airport and Patong beach at the time. The authorities started a search also, but with no result.

March 9th around 1:00PM
The Dive Asia office received a call from tour leader Daniel Brunner, who is one of the survivors. He called from a fisherman’s mobile phone to inform us of his location, and that 23 survivors had been picked up by a local fisherman. We notified the authorities, and a Thai Marine Police boat went to pick up the survivors.

The 23 people arrived at 4:30PM in the deep seaport in Ao Makham. They were exhausted, dehydrated and sunburned, with minor scraps and cuts, but none of the survivors had major injuries.

Missing at the time were:
1 Thai National (our cook)
1 Japanese (Guest)
3 Austrians (Guest)
2 Swiss (Guest)

It was wrongly reported that some of the missing guests were German.

March 10th
The search for the missing 7 people continued. The body of one person was found and returned to Ao Makham.

The approximate location where the boat sunk was pinpointed near Patong Beach. A dive team from Deep Blue checked the location and found debris confirming that the wreck was close, but did not locate the wreck itself. The depth is in the area is around 70 meters. Later that night, the Thai Navy identified two possible locations and wrongly assumed that the wreck was broken in half.

March 11th
The search for the still missing six persons continued. Joerg and Andreas from Deep Blue and Ben from the SSS chamber made a dive to confirm the location of the wreck, as well as to check the wreck to determine how many guests might still remain on board.

They found four people still in their cabins, but due to the depth of the wreck and time restraints, recovery was not possible at the time.

The search for the still missing two people continued. The missing were our Thai cook and a guest from Japan.

March 12th
A dive team consisting of Joerg and Andres from Deep Blue, Ben from the SSS Chamber and Mathew from Pro Tech Diving college made a dive and recovered the four people found the day before, and also search the boat further for the two still missing people. They found the Japanese guest and returned to the surface. The Thai Marine Police returned the remains to Ao Makam.

The search for our missing cook continued.

March 13th
The dive team made a further search of the boat and the surrounding waters, but were unable to locate our missing cook. Personal effects of the people on board were recovered. While the dive team was still in decompression, we were informed that a search helicopter spotted a body in the water 22 miles south of the wreck location. A police boat was dispatched. In the evening we were informed that the recovered body was our missing cook.

Everyone on board was accounted for. We are very sad and distraught over this tragedy. Our hearts are with the families of the deceased, and we grieve with them.

Many of you expressed your support for us, and we are very thankful for this. It is heartwarming to have Mona come by our office with big bag of sandwiches because you don’t have time to eat, or to hear that Rene from Sea Fun Divers had been filling 50% oxygen bottles for Ben in the dive team free of charge. Also others like Franz of Blue Dolphin deserve our special thanks for organizing and conducting their own search for the missing.

FoxNews.com

Four passengers had to be rescued from the sea after the cruise ship they were boarding was ripped from its mooring in high winds, pitching the gangway into the water.

The incident happened as passengers tried to board the MSC cruise ship, Fantasia, in Palma, Majorca. It was part-way through a Mediterranean cruise.

Video footage shows the passengers swimming for their lives after gusts of up to 110km per hour snapped the ropes holding the ship fast.

One passenger was treated for head injuries, and all four had hypothermia.

Another expedition ship has run aground in the frigid waters of Antarctica.

Quark Expeditions' 68-passenger Ocean Nova is stuck in Antarctica's Marguerite Bay, west of Debenham Island and near the Argentine research station San Martin.

An initial report on the incident released by Quark Expeditions indicates there is no imminent danger to the ship or passengers. "There is no sign of leakage of any kind from the vessel," the report adds.

The grounding, first reported in the English-language media by travel blogger Jeanne LeBlanc of the Hartford Courant, occurred early today.

The Quark Expeditions report says there are 65 passengers on board the ship, including 21 Americans, 17 Britons, eight Canadians, seven Australians, five South Africans and passengers from more than half a dozen other countries.

The report says the captain of the ice-strengthed Ocean Nova, Per Gravesen, attempted but failed to dislodge the vessel today at high tide, which occurred at around 1:00 PM local time, and is waiting for the next high tide tonight to try again. The report blamed "unfavorable weather conditions" for the failure.

A Spanish naval ship, the Hespedrides, is on the way to the site of the incident, as is another Quark vessel, the Clipper Adventurer. Should the second attempt at dislodging the Ocean Nova fail, Quark says it plans to transfer passengers to the Clipper Adventurer for return to Argentina and home.

The incident comes just two months after another expedition ship, the 84-passenger Ushuaia, ran aground near the entrance to Antarctica's famed Wilhelmina Bay. The Ushuaia eventually was evacuated before being freed by a Chilean tugboat.

Originally built in 1992 to navigate the ice-choked waters of Western Greenland, the 2,118-ton Ocean Nova is one of several dozen small expedition ships that operate adventure cruises to Antarctica each year during the brief Antarctic summer -- the period between November and March when the ice around the continent melts back enough to allow visits.

The often-spartan voyages appeal to well-heeled adventurers from around the globe who pay $4,000 per person or more for the chance to see one of the most remote and untrammeled regions on Earth, and they have grown in popularity in recent years. But several other recent incidents have raised concerns about the trips.

Just last year two expedition vessels, G.A.P. Adventures' Explorer and Hurtigruten's Fram, were damaged by icebergs. The Explorer eventually sank.

Crash Occurred During Routine Work Done by Spirit of Washington's Crew

The Spirit of Washington cruise boat struck the District's main fireboat yesterday while the latter vessel was docked, gashing a 15-foot-hole in the fireboat and disabling it for the foreseeable future, fire officials said.

No passengers were aboard the 600-person cruise boat, and no one was injured in the 2 p.m. incident along Pier 4 at Sixth and Water streets SW, authorities said.

The accident occurred as the four-person crew of the Spirit of Washington performed a routine maneuver to reposition the ship alongside the pier, said Sal Naso, vice president and general manager of Spirit Cruises.

"They were just turning it around," Naso said. "It's done a thousand times a year. . . . We're obviously going to take care of the fire department."

Naso said damage to the cruise boat was minimal. The company substituted another boat, the Spirit of Mount Vernon, for its scheduled dinner cruise.

Alan Etter, spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, said the damage to the 70-foot John Glenn was "considerable." The gash was on the starboard side, above the water line, and will have to be fixed before the fireboat can be returned to service, he said.

He described the vessel as "a very necessary part of the department."

"It's a big deal to lose it," Etter said.

The John Glenn can pump 7,000 gallons of water a minute and is the city's only vessel with icebreaking capabilities, Etter said. It was instrumental in battling a blaze three years ago on the water in which three yachts caught fire, Etter said.

Naso and Etter said it was too early to determine what had gone wrong, although both said there had been reports of strong gusts of wind on the river. The U.S. Coast Guard was investigating the accident.

The District has had the John Glenn since 1978. It was returned to the department five years ago after a two-year refurbishing effort. All three of the boat's engines were replaced, and new electronics were added, Etter said.

USA TODAY

Another small expedition ship that caters to adventurers has run aground in Antarctica.

The 84-passenger Ushuaia, an ice-strengthened vessel that spends five months a year in the region, was near the entrance to Antarctica's famed Wilhelmina Bay when the accident occurred, a spokesman for the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators tells USA TODAY.

No one was injured in the grounding but the ship's officers plan to move passengers to another vessel before they try to "refloat" the Ushuaia -- i.e. move it from where it is stuck.

"An initial assessment of damage indicated that while there was no imminent danger and no threat to life, it would be precautionary to transfer passengers to another vessel," the Association says in a situation report sent to USA TODAY. Still, they added, the ship is stable.

Another expedition ship, the Antarctic Dream, was seven miles away when the incident occurred and already has arrived on the scene. Several other ice-strengthed expedition ships including the National Geographic Explorer, Professor Multanovskiy and Polar Star also are nearby and have offered assistance should it be needed.

Several Chilean Naval vessels also are en route, and the Association, which has been in contact with the Ushuaia's crew, says the crew plans to transfer passengers to the Chilean Naval vessel Achiles on Friday.

The Association says the Ushuaia leaked a small amount of light oil when it ran aground, but the leak has since been sealed and oil barriers have been deployed to contain further spills.

EXPEDITION REPORT: Gene Sloan's multi-media diary of sailing to Antarctica in 2003

Originally built for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1970, the 2,923-ton Ushuaia is one of several dozen small expedition ships that operate adventure cruises to Antarctica each year during the brief Antarctic summer -- the period between November and March when the ice around the continent melts back enough to allow visits.

The often-spartan voyages, which appeal to well-heeled adventurers from around the globe who pay $4,000 per person or more for the chance to see one of the most remote and untrammeled regions on Earth, have grown in popularity in recent years. But several recent incidents also have raised concerns about the trips, which offer the chance to see everything from giant icebergs to penguins and whales.

Just last year two expedition vessels, G.A.P. Adventures' Explorer and Hurtigruten's Fram, were damaged by icebergs. The Explorer eventually sank.

The IAATO situation report on the incident says the Ushuaia was sailing nearly full with 82 passengers on board, including 12 Americans, 2 Canadians, 11 Australians and 7 residents of the United Kingdom. Passengers from nearly a dozen other countries including The Netherlands, Germany, Italy and China also are on board.

Have you taken an expedition cruise to Antarctica? Tell us about it below.

UPDATE, Friday, 10:00 AM ET: The Chilean Navy says passengers on the Ushuaia have been safely transferred to one of its ships, the Achiles, and will be taken to an airstrip on nearby King George Island to be flown back to Argentina and, eventually, home.

According to the 2007 California Boating Safety Report, 39 of the 55 victims who died in state boating accidents were not wearing life jackets. The Department of Boating and Waterways (Cal Boating) report provides data about boating accidents, injuries and deaths reported in 2007.

"Life jacket use is critical to safe boating," said Cal Boating director Raynor Tsuneyoshi. "All boaters, including anglers, are urged to always wear life jackets and to refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages while on board a vessel. Information from the 2007 report will help us better target our education efforts to stress these messages."

Of the fatalities outlined in the report, 19 were fishing-related and 20 involved alcohol. Thirtynine victims drowned.

In 2007, 804 boating accidents occurred in California, ranking it first among all states, followed by Florida, which had 668. Florida is the only state with more boating fatalities, 77, and more registered recreational vessels, 1,027,043. There are 964,881 registered recreational vessels in California.

The statistics in the report reflect every reported boating accident in California in 2007. Although Cal Boating believes that all accidents involving fatalities were reported, many nonfatal accidents are never reported to Cal Boating or law enforcement agencies due to noncompliance with, or ignorance of, the reporting law.

State law requires boaters involved in accidents to file a written report with Cal Boating when a person dies, disappears or requires medical attention beyond first aid. A report is also required when an accident results in damage to a vessel or other property exceeding $500 or there is a complete loss of a vessel.

Boaters can find a printable California Boating Accident Report form at www.dbw.ca.gov/ PDF/AccidentForms/.

To view the entire boating safety report, visit the website at www.dbw.ca.gov.

CAIRO (AFP) — Scuffles erupted at an Egyptian court on Sunday when five of six defendants were cleared of blame for a 2006 ferry sinking in which more than 1,000 people died, Egypt's worst maritime disaster.

Hysterical relatives voiced anger as only Salaheddin Gomaa, captain of another ferry, the Saint Catherine, was jailed for six months for failing to come to the assistance of the Al-Salam Boccaccio 98.

Public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud issued a statement after the decision saying he would appeal the ruling, and called for a retrial.

The Al-Salam sank in the middle of the Red Sea on February 3, 2006 as it was carrying more than 1,400 people from Saudi Arabia to the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the trial was held.

"My brother, my brother," one woman screamed after the verdict, according to footage aired on Al-Jazeera television which also showed security men scuffling with relatives and another woman being manhandled.

Dozens of relatives, many carrying photographs of their dead loved ones, were crammed into the court building, although the heavy security presence prevented them from entering the courtroom itself.

Others wailed in grief on the steps outside. "God help us, 1,034 people are dead!" shouted one man.

Most of the victims were from poor families in southern Egypt, and the court scenes were reminiscent of the emotional outpourings in the days following the sinking as anxious relatives waited in vain for bodies to be recovered.

"The day of the accident everybody saw that the ship was in bad shape and two years later they say the boat was in good shape. It doesn't make sense," one man told Al-Jazeera.

"This is awful. My wife and children died and after two years everyone responsible is found to be innocent," he said, slamming some of the defendants for leaving the country pending the court's ruling.

Prosecutor Mahmud said he wanted a retrial because of "violations in documented records, corruption in investigation, shortcomings in validatings and arbitrary conclusions," Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

The court found that Gomaa had failed to show "compassion" and "did not do his duty by failing to go to the rescue of victims."

The Saint Catherine captain was also fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds (1,880 dollars).

Key defendant Mamduh Ismail, who owned the 36-year-old Al-Salam ferry and is a member of parliament's upper house which is appointed by President Hosni Mubarak, was acquitted.

In June 2006, Ismail was ordered to pay 330 million Egyptian pounds (57 million dollars) into a fund to compensate victims of the disaster and in return, a freeze on his assets was lifted.

Also accused were Ismail's son and three Al-Salam executives. Ismail, his son and one of the executives are not currently in Egypt.

In 2006, a parliamentary commission of inquiry blamed Al-Salam for the disaster, saying the firm had continued to operate the ferry "despite serious defects" in the vessel.

It also said the government "failed to manage the crisis adequately" in the days after the sinking.

Ismail had denied responsibility for the disaster, and blamed the captain of the Al-Salam, who went down with his ship, for overestimating the crew's ability to fight a fire that had broken out on board.

The passengers on the ferry were mostly Egyptian migrant workers, some of whom were bringing months', if not years', worth of savings to their families back home.

Todd and I were sitting in the airport in Turks & Caicos waiting to go home, and I was talking to a couple that had been on the Aggressor with us. They had met on the Belize Aggressor III, when they both worked on the ship. They no longer worked for the Aggressor Fleet, but seemed to have a lot of respect for the company. I was mentioning to them my desire to visit Belize and I asked them about the Peter Hughes boats, specifically the Tobago itinerary, which has apparently been discontinued since I was researching it. They didn't really say anything too negative about Peter Hughes, but talked for a few minutes about the Aggressor Fleet and how they had always felt that the Aggressor Fleet was top notch in safety. Honestly, I was confused by the conversation, since I really hadn't asked about safety.

Fast forward a week or two. I was researching up coming dive trips, planning to go somewhere in late fall. We had kind of decided on Belize, but I wanted to make sure I had all of the options researched. I investigated the Peter Hughes Tobago itinerary, only to see on Scubaboard someone talking about reading No Safe Harbor before going on a Peter Hughes boat.

Ohhh kayyy...

I looked up No Safe Harbor and saw it was about the Peter Hughes boat Wave Dancer, and that it had sunk somehow. I researched the Wave Dancer, found a bunch of articles about it, and decided not to research the Tobago itinerary again. No Peter Hughes boats for us. I bought the book used off of Amazon for $3 and decided to check it out.

The Wave Dancer was a Diving live aboard boat operating out of Belize. In October 2001, the Richmond Dive Club scheduled a trip to Belize, and part of the group would stay on the Wave Dancer and the rest on the Belize Aggressor III.* As Hurricane Iris, a category 4 storm, approached Belize, both boats took refuge in Big Creek with all of their passengers aboard. As they rode out the storm, the Wave Dancer broke free of its moorings, hit the Belize Aggressor, and drifted out into the lagoon. It listed and finally capsized, killing all passengers except three and many of the crew. Peter Hughes attributed the accident to a freak occurrence. The book, and many witness accounts, say otherwise. No one has taken even partial responsibility for the accident, even though it seems clear that the Captain and to some extent Peter Hughes, were responsible.

This was a scary book for me. I'm accustomed to reading about dive accidents, it's been a hobby of mine for a while now. I read about them and analyze what the diver did wrong and could have done to prevent the accident. In turn, this makes me a better diver and more apt to know what to do when an emergency situation happens to me. This book, though, isn't truly a dive accident. I can't say that the divers on board reacted wrongly in any way. They simply trusted the crew to know what to do during a dangerous storm, and expected the captain's opinion to be correct. I, too, would have assumed that the captain knew better than me. He's a professional. Needless to say, this book really got me thinking about what sort of danger I put myself in when I'm on a live aboard, how trusting I should be with my life, and what I can do to prevent this from happening to me.

My thoughts...

* There are a lot of live aboard operators out there. Choose carefully. Find out about safety in advance, and make that a priority.
* When you're on a live aboard, you don't have access to television, newspapers, internet or phones. You are 100% cut off from the world and all information will come from the crew. In the event of a storm, go ahead and get the ship's email and contact someone at home who can give you information.
* Consider when you plan your trip and realize that planning a trip in hurricane season is a risk. Watch the weather reports before you leave and think about what you would do if you were stranded where you are going. This tragedy happened in Belize, a third world country, and for that reason, the passengers were not eager to leave the ship and go to a shelter. By the time they reached Big Creek (just a couple hours ahead of the storm), the surrounding resorts and hotels had been evacuated and all that remained was a storm shelter in a bank.
* Remember that ships flagged in countries other than the US do not have to be up to US Coast Guard standards. Inspectors post-accident found the safety of the ship lacking, and the long-range radio did not even work during the trip.
* Trust your instincts and if something feels wrong, it might be. Question your captain. There were passengers who knew a little something about boats and knew that it would be potentially unsafe to have the boat tied up as it was. When it was moored in Big Creek, it was sticking out into the channel and vulnerable to the storm surge. The Aggressor was tied up better and people noticed, but still trusted the captain.
* Usually on a live aboard, you're barefoot and casual, but if you're riding out a storm, have your life jacket and shoes on. None of the bodies recovered from the Wind Dancer were wearing life jackets or shoes.
* If you are in a storm, keep your dive light on you. In fact, keep a flashlight available in your room at all times. In the event of a fire or flood, you can find your way out easier. Divers usually have flashlights with them for night dives. Todd and I had no fewer than 5 with us on the Aggressor, but all of them were up on the dive deck.
* Listen to safety instructions. I admit, the explanation of where the escape routes were when we were in Turks & Caicos went in one ear and out the other. Although, to their credit, the crew placed a map of the escape routes on our bed after it was made up each morning.

Will I continue to go on live aboards? Of course. Just not Peter Hughes. I'll be careful to choose my ships wisely and continue reading Scubaboard and Undercurrent for my diving information.

As for a review of the book itself, it was well-written, but definitely not worth reading if you're not a diver or interested in this accident. There was far too much detail about the beginning (non-eventful) part of the trip. "And then, they went up and had a rum punch on the sun deck..." We don't need to know that much detail and I ended up skimming some. It was a short, easy read, and read better than reading the government report on the subject. So, I give it a "just ok."

*To my knowledge, my friends from Turks & Caicos were not on the Belize Aggressor III during this event.

A crewman who died after running out of oxygen in a ship's ballast tank did not have the usual breathing gear, the BBC has learned.

The Filipino collapsed and died on the Saga-owned cruise ship in Southampton on Wednesday. A second man was rescued.

The pair inspected the tank without a safety officer or written permission, which is required by Saga due to the low air levels, a source told the BBC.

Police are investigating the suspicion of gross negligence.

Detectives are examining whether the men were told to enter the ballast tanks or told to inspect them from a safe distance above.

Kent-based Saga confirmed that various guidelines should be followed during the procedure.

Out-of-bounds area

These include ventilating the tanks well in advance and that anyone wanting to go inside must have written permission and be accompanied by a safety officer, as it is an out-of-bounds area.

Saga said it would not comment on whether these procedures were followed.

Spokesman Paul Green added: "A full independent investigation is currently underway and we are therefore unable to comment any further at this time."

The pair were trapped in the ballast tank, which is a compartment at the bottom of a ship holding water to control a ship's buoyancy and stability.

Water is discharged when the ship is heavily laden and then taken on again when travelling with light cargo.

The crewman, a second bosun in charge of crew and equipment, died after running out of oxygen, police have said.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said a second bosun, a ship's officer, would be aware of necessary safety procedures before entering a ballast tank.

Filipino priest Jack Padua, who was contacted at the Southampton Seafarers' Centre, spoke to the rescued man after he was released from hospital.

He said: "He was shocked and devastated. The man who died was a colleague of his."

Mr Padua added: "I went onboard to console the crew. The group have been together for 10 years working on the ship. It is like a family."

A Hampshire police spokesman added: "We have been told it is not fumes, it's lack of oxygen, fresh air in the place they were working."

Confused state

Fire crews spent more than an hour battling to save the man, who was 43 years old. His body has been recovered.

The other man, a 38-year-old, was taken to hospital in a "confused" state but later released, police said.

The vessel finally left on a 14-night cruise to the Baltic, including Amsterdam, Kiel, Riga, and St Petersburg, on Thursday evening.

The cruise ship, which holds 600 passengers, had been due to set off for a cruise at 1600 BST on Wednesday.

Passengers stayed onboard overnight and had been informed of events, Saga said.

An investigation is also being carried out by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, which has a team of five at the scene.

Continue reading "Dead sailor had no breathing gear" »

DANGER ON THE WATER WHEN IT COMES TO BOATING DEATHS, FLORIDA AGAIN IS NO. 1 IN THE NATION
South Florida Sun - Sentinel - Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Author: Robert Nolin

Three men and a 5-year-old cram into an 8-foot boat to fish in a canal behind their Palm Beach County home. The boat capsizes; two men drown. That was in June.

Three women rent a personal watercraft along the Intracoastal Waterway in Pompano Beach. Within minutes they smash into a boatlift. One woman dies instantly. That was in July.

Such deaths, two of the 77 that occurred in state waters last year, are why Florida leads the nation in boating fatalities for the fifth consecutive year.

"It's pretty clear that Florida is first again," said Brian Rehwinkel, an analyst with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who helped compile the 2007 statistics. "That's not where we want to be."

Last year, there were 668 boating accidents around the state, with 68 of them resulting in 77 deaths. As to be expected, populous and waterway-rich South Florida was the deadliest region, with 162 accidents and 22 fatalities in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Miami-Dade was No. 1 in deaths, with 13, and Monroe County had the most accidents, 74.

Florida consistently ranks at the top of maritime deaths for a simple reason, officials say. Mix together thousands of miles of coastline and waterways, a year-round boating season, and more registered vessels than any other state, and you've got a deadly formula for a grim distinction.

"Florida has always come in with, unfortunately, high fatalities," said Bruce Wright, boating safety specialist with the Coast Guard.

"It's not a big surprise," Rehwinkel said. "It's not what we want, but it's not a big surprise."

So far this year, 23 boating deaths have been tallied statewide. Nationally, according to the Coast Guard, boating deaths dropped in 2007, which saw 688 fatalities as compared with 710 in 2006.

Coast Guard figures show Florida leading the nation in 2006, with 69 deaths, followed by Texas, 47; California, 42; Michigan, 30; and Pennsylvania, 25. While confirming Florida as the fatality leader in 2007, the Coast Guard has not finished reviewing figures on other state rankings, spokeswoman Susan Tomczuk said from Washington, D.C.

Most of Florida's 2007 deaths occurred in small boats, and most victims drowned. Alcohol or drugs played a role in 22 percent. One in five victims was operating a personal watercraft, and Miami-Dade led in the number of personal watercraft accidents, with 21.

The state's boating death rate has steadily risen, as has the number of registered vessels, which now tops 1 million. The peak year was 2005, which recorded 80 deaths, followed by last year's 77.

"Seventy-seven is just unacceptable to us," said Lt. Ed Cates, assistant boating safety coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "But if we had two, it would be too high for us."

This year's statistics show that 85 percent of the fatality victims had no boater education, so the commission sees mandatory safety courses as a way to reduce deaths on the water. It has proposed that all vessel operators take a safety course, a program it would phase in over 11 years.

Boaters who took the course would be awarded a card they must produce if stopped when operating a vessel. Currently, boaters under 21 must take the course and carry a card.

Commission officials this year asked the state Legislature to pass the education requirement, but the proposal failed. Rehwinkel said the commission will renew its push next legislative season.

"If more people received boating education, we believe there's potential to save lives," Rehwinkel said. The commission calculates there would be 25 percent fewer deaths if boaters were better educated.

Wright said maritime fatalities may never be eliminated, but can be reduced.

"It's just one of those things you've got to live with, like vehicular fatalities," he said. "But you've just got to try your best to educate people."

Sgt. Russ Budden, head of the Broward Sheriff's Office's Marine Unit, said his officers see a lack of boating savvy on the water and try to impart safety tips to boaters.

"Education is the number one thing out there with us," he said. "The more you can educate, the better."

The most common fatal accident last year was when the victim falls overboard, then drowns. Such fatalities could be sharply curtailed, safety officials say, by the simple habit of wearing a life jacket.

So for Boating Safety Week, which ends today, the commission opened a new front in its war on fatalities: a Wear It Florida campaign to persuade boaters to don life vests when on the water.

"Wear a life jacket and increase your chances out there," said Cates.

The agency will be sounding another message for boaters this Memorial Day weekend: one of enforcement.

"For the unofficial start of summer, more boats will be on the water and we are going to be out there as well," said Gabriella Ferraro, of the commission's South Florida office.

Locations, schedules and fees for boating safety courses by the Coast Guard Auxiliary are available at a href="http://www.cgaux7.org/pub-">www.cg aux7.org/pub- classes.asp.

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

2007 fatalities at a glance

Drowning - Leading cause of death.

22 - Percentage of fatalities caused by alcohol or drugs.

March - Deadliest month, followed by May and June.

$9,125,110 - Total amount of property damage from accidents.

21 - Percentage of fatality victims who were on a personal watercraft.

13 - Percentage of personal watercraft among all registered vessels.

Between noon and 8 p.m. - When most fatal accidents occurred.

17 feet or less - The length of most vessels involved in fatalities.

Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

Top 10 counties in boating deaths

County Registered vessels Accidents Fatalities

Miami-Dade 62,324 67 13

Palm Beach 44,416 52 5

Lee 50,642 32 5

Collier 24,458 18 5

Monroe 28,235 74 4

Pinellas 56,386 50 4

Broward 50,823 43 4

St. Johns 13,651 17 3

Lake 23,807 12 3

Okaloosa 20,026 17 2

*In counties where fatalities were tied, the number of accidents was used to determine ranking.

Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Portrait of the average victim

A look at 2007 fatal boating accidents shows the average victim:

Is male (90 percent);

Is 36 to 50 years old;

Is the owner of the boat involved;

Is operating a gas-powered open motorboat;

Has no formal boater education (85 percent);

Is a Florida resident;

Fell overboard and drowned;

Had a roughly one in five chance of alcohol or drugs in system.

Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Credit: By Robert Nolin Staff Writer

A man was killed and his son badly hurt, in a boating accident off the Brevard County coast.

It happened about six miles off shore from Port Canaveral.

Christopher Diaz of Oviedo was killed and his son, Christian Jensen, was badly hurt.

The two were apparently heading to shore when they collided with another boat carrying three Merritt Island men.

Diaz's boat capsized and both were thrown into the water. They were in the water for nearly a half hour before Good Samaritans and the U.S. Coast Guard arrived.

However, by then it was too late.

"You had the whole open ocean out there. The odds of two vessels hitting each other are slim to none. It's very rare that we have an accident like this take place," Lenny Salberg from the Fish and Wildlife Commission said.

So far, no one has been charged in the crash.

Central Florida News 13

A videographer and photographer shooting a boat were killed when the aircraft hit water.

By Heather Allen and Cathy Zollo
The Herald Tribune

VENICE -- A helicopter, flying low to photograph a model in a speeding Cigar Boat, plunged into the Gulf of Mexico near Casey Key on Tuesday morning, killing two photographers and injuring the pilot.

The helicopter's skids may have grazed the water, causing the aircraft to flip over and crash into calm Gulf waters about one mile offshore, said Lt. Chuck Lesaltato, spokesman for the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

Killed were Thomas Newby, 50, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., the chief photographer for Powerboat Magazine, and Mark Copeland, 44, of North Carolina, an Emmy-winning video photographer.

The pilot, Mark A. Watters, 44, of Pasadena, Calif., was in fair condition Wednesday at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

The crew was on assignment for Powerboat Magazine when the crash occurred at about 10 a.m.

Watters, who had 20 years of experience as a military helicopter pilot, was "one of the few pilots in the country capable of high speed-low altitude flying for racing photography," according to the Corona Police Department in California, where he was a member of the air support unit.

Whether flying too low caused the accident will likely be a focus for investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, who arrived Tuesday night from Miami to take over the investigation. The investigators plan to release a preliminary report in four to five days.

The make and model of the helicopter were not released by authorities. The aircraft was not reclaimed from the murky waters in which it was submerged Tuesday. Divers from the Sheriff's Office marked off the area where the aircraft went down and will remove the wreckage today, Lesaltato said.

Dick Hendricks, executive vice president of Ehlert Publishing Group, which produces Powerboat Magazine, said the magazine has done similar photographic shoots four times a year for the past 35 years without incident.

"We haven't thought beyond canceling this one," he said. "We are working with (the NTSB) and the sheriff's department and trying to figure out what happened. Obviously, our thoughts are with the families and we are working with whatever their needs are."

One observer said Tuesday's accident gave off a loud boom that sounded like an approaching thunderstorm.

"I looked out there and saw the red boat," said Keith Warmkessel, who details cars and boats on Casey Key. "The next thing I see is the sheriff's helicopter."

While ambulances and fire engines from a number of agencies zoomed down the length of the barrier island, trying to coordinate with one another, a harrowing rescue was under way in the Gulf.

Boats from the Sarasota Police Department, the Sheriff's Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife and the Coast Guard rushed to the crash site, while the sheriff's helicopter flew overhead looking for people in the water.

As the helicopter approached, those on board could see people in the water. Deputy John Jernigan strapped on a life vest and jumped into the water to assist with the rescue mission, Lesaltato said.

The victims were rushed by boat to the Crow's Nest restaurant near the south jetty on Venice island around 10:30 a.m.

Both Newby and Copeland died by the time they reached land, Lesaltato said. Watters was airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center.

The boat's driver and a female model were not injured and authorities did not identify them Tuesday. Debris from the helicopter hit the boat, causing some damage.

Gary Robb, an attorney who specializes in helicopter crashes, said the NTSB will closely examine the aircraft after it is pulled from the water, looking for possible mechanical failures. Among those is loss of the main rotor control, engine failure and component part failure.

"The NTSB will also look at the human factors aspect, which means pilot training, pilot performance, whether or not there may have been an error committed by the pilot," said Robb, who is based in Kansas City, Mo. "There are a number of factors which the government will assess."

About 80 to 85 percent of helicopter crashes are related to human factors, and 10 to 12 percent are material failures, said Rhett Flater, executive director of the American Helicopter Society, an industry group.

The sheriff's dive team will help recover the helicopter, which could be a long and tedious mission, said Deputy Kevin Deiter, from special operations.

The water where the helicopter went down is about 20 to 30 feet deep, Deiter said.

A father who lost a daughter in a parasailing accident earlier this month in Pompano has filed a suit against those involved.

In the suit, Dennis White names Wyndham Vacation Resorts, Pompano Beach Water Sports, and boat operator Scott Kipp.

White says his daughters, Crystal and Amber White of Summerfield, Florida, were staying at Wyndham Royal Vista Resort in Pompano Beach when they decided to take advantage of the parasail operation, Pompano Beach Water Sports, offered by the resort.

As the boat head north near Pompano Beach, the winds increased from 15 mph to 25 mph and seas became choppy. When Kipp tried to pull the girls back in, the tow line to their parachute snapped against the force of the wind and sent the girls flying towards the buildings on shore. Both girls crashed into a second story hotel balcony of the Beachcomber Hotel. 15-year old Amber suffered critical neck and head wounds along with internal injuries. She was pronounced brain dead Sunday evening and kept on life support until her organs could be harvested. 17-year old Crystal suffered a head injury along with numerous cuts and bruises. She was released from the hospital several days after the accident.

The suit claims Pompano Beach Water Sports and its employee Scott Kipp were negligent in that they put Crystal and Amber up in a parasail under “extraordinarily dangerous weather conditions” and failed to maintain control of the parasail once it was aloft.

White said in filing this lawsuit, he hopes that those responsible for his daughter's death cannot continue to put the lives of others in danger.

Attorneys Jason and Debi Chalik of Ft. Lauderdale have been retained by the White Family. In addition to representing the White’s in their Broward court case, they will also fight in Tallahassee to regulate the parasailing industry in Florida.

CBS4
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Members of Amber White's family came Monday to say goodbye, as they gave up hope the 15-year-old girl would recover from injuries suffered in a parasailing accident over the weekend off Pompano Beach.

"She's passed on," said James Day, Amber's stepfather, seated in the dimly lit seventh-floor waiting room of the pediatric intensive care unit at Broward General Medical Center. "She was declared clinically dead Sunday at about 6 p.m. She's still on life support, just to say goodbye."

The hospital later Monday removed Amber from life support and declared her dead, said administrative supervisor Tony Tutterow.

As Day spoke, another family member was on a cell phone giving directions to relatives trying to find the hospital from Interstate 95. Amber's mother, Shannon Kraus, was by her child's bed down the hall, he said. Amber's 16th birthday is Sunday.

"We're going ahead to donate her organs to other children they could save," Day said, with tears in his eyes.

Her sister Crystal White, 17, who was also injured Saturday, was released Monday from North Broward Medical Center.

As the girls, visiting from Summerfield near Ocala, parasailed off Pompano Beach on a blustery Saturday afternoon, strong gusts carried them toward shore, dragged them across the roof of a hotel building and into some palm trees. At some point during the ordeal, the tow rope broke.

About 40 minutes before the boat set out, the National Weather Service had issued a notice to boaters of off-shore thunderstorms and high winds heading toward a section of coast that included Pompano Beach.

The captain, Scott Kipp, 26, may face charges in the accident, according to an initial incident report released Monday by the Broward Sheriff's Office. The report blames "careless/reckless" operation, equipment failure and weather. An unspecified charge is listed as pending, while the investigation continues.

Reached by phone, Kipp said, "I don't really have any comment on that." He referred questions to his lawyer, Rod Coleman, who could not be reached despite three messages.

The report said the boat was owned by Island Waves Parasailing, which lists a post office box in Palm Beach Gardens. According to state records, Island Waves Parasailing is a registered trade name owned by Waterfront License Corp., also with a Palm Beach Gardens P.O. box.

The president of that company is Anthony P. Aiello, 41, of North Palm Beach, according to state corporation records. He was arrested July 12 and jailed for 11 days for failing to appear in court to face charges of retail theft and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.

The Coast Guard had reported the boat was operated by Pompano Beach Water Sports, of which Aiello is vice president, state records show.

Aiello could not be reached for comment Monday, despite attempts by phone and a visit to his home in North Palm Beach.

The parasailing businesses that dot Florida's tourist beaches operate with few regulations. Last year then-state Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, introduced a bill that would have required parasailing companies to obtain licenses, suspend operations when weather turns bad, obtain insurance, meet vessel safety standards, carry a marine radio, stay at least 2,000 feet from shore and meet several other safety standards. The bill died in committee.

Sebesta introduced it after two parasailing accidents on Florida's west coast. In 2001, a mother and daughter from Kentucky were killed after their line snapped in stormy weather, dropping them into the waters off Fort Myers. In 2004, two 15-year-old girls were carried into a power line off Bradenton Beach after their line broke free. They were rescued.

In his interview with detectives, Kipp said the winds suddenly increased from 15 mph to 40 mph, the Sheriff's Office report said. The hydraulic winch on the boat, used to wound and reel in the tow rope, was not strong enough to bring the parachute down.

The wind pulled the boat toward shore, according to the report, and the two girls were up in the air for about two minutes. The parachute then spun "out of control" and the tow line broke, the report states. It carried the girls atop the two-story Beachcomber Resort and Villas building and through several trees in the courtyard.

Crystal White came to Broward General on Monday, where she learned about her sister Amber's condition.

"She didn't take it very well," her stepfather said. "They're all they've got."

By David Fleshler, Macollvie Jean-François and Joel Marino
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Investigators are piecing together a parasailing accident that left one teenager dead and seriously injured her older sister.

A parasailing accident has killed one teen and left her older sister seriously injured, and now authorities are trying to figure out what happened and if the boat driver could have done anything to prevent the accident.

Careless boating, equipment failure and bad weather all might have contributed to the horrific crash Saturday in Pompano Beach that killed Amber White, one week shy of her 16th birthday, according to a preliminary incident report released Monday by the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Amber died Monday at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, the same day her sister Crystal, 17, was released from North Broward Medical Center.

BSO and the U.S. Coast Guard are trying to figure out what caused the rope to snap and if mechanical failure and driver error were involved. The results of that investigation will determine whether the driver, Scott Kipp of Island Waves Parasailing, is cited for careless operating.

An employee who answered the phone Monday at Pompano Beach Watersports said Kipp and the company's owners, Christopher Boone and Anthony Aiello, declined to comment.

Amber White, who had spent most of Monday in critical condition, was declared brain-dead the day before.

Crystal White was released from the hospital at noon Monday in time to join the family at Broward General, where she was reunited with her sister for the first time since the accident.

''Those girls were a team,'' said their aunt, Dina White. ``They were a duo. And now Crystal is flying solo.''

Monday was supposed to be the girls' first day of school at Lake Weir High School in Ocala, where Crystal was supposed to start her senior year Monday.

Amber and Crystal White asked to go parasailing Saturday while visiting South Florida with their neighbors from Summerfield, near Ocala.

The boat from Island Waves Parasailing, also known as Pompano Beach Watersports, was heading north near Pompano Beach when the winds suddenly increased from 15 mph to 40 mph, BSO said.

According to the report, winds were blowing between 15 and 25 mph with waves as high as two feet.

The driver then tried to pull the girls back down, but the boat's hydraulic winch wasn't strong enough and the parachute began to pull the boat toward the shore until the towline broke.

The force sent them flying past nearby trees like a slingshot before they crashed into a second-story balcony of a nearby hotel. The impact left Amber with neck and head wounds as well as internal injuries. Crystal also hit her head, according to the incident report, and suffered cuts and bruises.

The girls were taken to separate hospitals, and friends and family members spent the weekend driving the roughly 15 miles between Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale and North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach.

The girls' parents have been ''devastated'' since the accident and don't understand how it could have happened, said Dina White, who has spent the past several days flying between Fort Lauderdale and her home near Washington, D.C. Family members plan to donate Amber's organs.

Kipp, 26, had more than 100 hours of experience, according to BSO. He has a commercial boating license and was certified by the Professional Association of Parasail Operators, said Petty Officer James Judge, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman.

Wes Brent, owner of Atlantic Bridge Jet Ski in Pompano Beach, had employees renting water skis on the beach Saturday and said Saturday's winds came ``all of a sudden out of nowhere.''

He said that Kipp has been upset since Saturday.

''He's a good kid. He's been in tears,'' Brent said. ``He's just really hurt about it.''

But Rich Welter, who has owned Sunset Watersports in Key West for the past 25 years, said the typical parasailing rope can hold roughly 8,000 pounds and shouldn't break if it's in good condition.

''That rope is strong enough that you can lift that boat up,'' he said.

Amber leaves behind her parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, an older sister and three brothers.

Dina White said they are comforted that Amber knew they all cared.

''I knew she knew how much she was loved,'' said Dina White, choking back tears. ``All I want to do is hold her and tell her that one more time, but she knew it. I never have to wonder because I knew she knew it.''

By Breanne Gilpatrick
The Miami Herald
Miami Herald staff writer Robbyn Mitchell contributed to this report.

The parents of a 15-year old girl who died in a parasailing accident off Pompano Beach and South Florida Senator are vowing to work toward laws and regulations to ensure that this type of accident doesn’t happen again.

Amber White was mortally injured, her 17-year old sister Crystal serious injured when the towline attached to their parasail snapped sending the girl crashing into the 2nd floor balcony of a beachside hotel.

In a statement Wednesday by Dennis White, the girl’s father, along with his sister Dina and their extended family said they appreciated all the prayers and kind words.

“We have been dealt a terrible blow, and the world has lost a precious soul. Crystal is doing remarkably well considering the circumstances and has demonstrated a strength unmatched by anyone around her…..We are working night and day to ensure a tragedy of this kind never happens again. We are focused on Crystal's recovery and the preservation of Amber's memory. Through her death, Amber will set into motion laws and regulations that will potentially save the lives of others. She would have had it no other way.”

Amber will be buried Sunday in Summerfield, outside of Ocala.

Also Wednesday, Senator Gwen Margolis drafted a bill concerning new parasail regulations that she intends to file when the new session begins next month.

Under her bill, parasail operators would have to stay a minimum of 2-thousand feet offshore and they would not be allowed to operate when the wind reaches 20 knots. They would also have to carry liability insurance policy.

“It makes me sick to see people dying for no reason, especially our kids,” Senator Margolis told CBS4.Com, “This bill will save lives.”

Currently, there are no state or federal regulations that apply specifically to parasailing, but the boat operators are covered by the same rules that apply to all commercial vessels.

Broward Sheriff’s investigators have yet to rule what may have caused the accident. Equipment failure, bad weather and possibly careless boating, or any combination of these factors, are all being considered.

CBS 4

It was noon and the wind was picking up as Capt. Andy Lepel cruised the waters off Pompano Beach. He had a half-dozen customers on board wanting to parasail — and a tough call to make.

As thunderstorms approached, Lepel made his decision: to head to shore.

"I reeled them back in. I said, 'I'm sorry, you can come back tomorrow, and I'll give you a free ride,'" he said later. "I lost probably $1,000 that day, but I didn't lose any lives."

Lepel is one of a growing number of owners and operators in the parasailing business — which historically has been averse to outside regulation — who are now calling for the government to step in and impose basic safety rules. Last week's fatal accident on Pompano Beach only reinforced their demands.

Lepel, co-owner of Sand and Sea Parasailing, said he saw the tragedy unfold after taking his own customers back to the beach. A National Weather Service announcement warned of approaching thunderstorms. Soon after, as two sisters visiting from North Florida were parasailing from another boat, a gust hit.

The parasail rope snapped and the girls were thrown into the roof of a hotel and several trees, according to a Broward County Sheriff's Office report.

Amber White, 15, of Summerfield, was fatally injured. Her sister Crystal, 17, was hurt less seriously. The Sheriff's Office investigation into the incident, and the role of boat captain Scott Kipp of Island Waves Parasail, is pending. Kipp's lawyer, Roderick Coleman, has said his client received no weather advisory on his radio's emergency channel and that "the day was perfect for parasailing."

Lepel disagreed. "We were standing there saying, 'Why is he still out flying?' It shouldn't be optional not to fly in 40-mph winds," Lepel said. "Someone needs to come in here and enforce the laws they have and create some new ones."

Officials have not determined whether existing laws were violated. But on the whole, the industry is loosely regulated. The Coast Guard requires operators of commercial vessels to be licensed, but requires no training for anyone who wants to attach customers to a parachute and a tether and tow them through the water. If a boat carries less than six people, as most parasailors do, it is not subject to Coast Guard inspections.

"Anybody can buy a parachute, hook it up to a boat and call themselves a parasail operator," said Jeannete Lewis, a partner at The Haggard Law Firm in Coral Gables, who represented the mother of a young woman killed in 1999 while parasailing in the Bahamas. A jury awarded the mother $1.8 million.

Inexperienced operators are one of the biggest dangers, said Sean Sandell, a parasail operator for 10 years who learned his craft in the Caribbean and now works for Visit Palm Beach at the Riviera Beach Marina. "It's safe and easy when you know what you're doing and follow the rules."

Arrit McPherson, president of the Professional Association of Parasail Operators based in San Diego, said that for years his group favored self-regulation, setting its own standards and seeking voluntary compliance from members.

But Amber White's death, McPherson said, convinced him the association's campaign for self-regulation has been a "failure."

"We've proved we can't do it ourselves," he said. "If laws were passed that were sensible and could be enforced, accidents could be reduced."

Parasailing accidents are relatively rare, according to the Coast Guard. Between 1992 and 2001, the agency reported 64 injuries and three deaths nationwide. Twenty-four of the incidents occurred in Florida, more than any other state.

From 2002 to 2006, Florida had seven injuries and no deaths. Compare that to sky-diving, in which 21 people died nationwide in 2006 alone, according to the United States Parachute Association.

In 2006, a state lawmaker from St. Petersburg introduced a bill that would have required parasail companies to carry insurance, stay at least 2,000 feet from shore, and shut down when winds reached 20 knots per hour. The bill died in committee.

Energized by Amber White's death, state Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Sunny Isles Beach, has said she plans to reintroduce similar provisions, which if followed, could have prevented last Saturday's accident. Because of the legislative calendar, however, the measure may not be heard until next spring.

Wayne Mascolo, owner of Aloha Enterprises, a company that offers parasailing in Fort Lauderdale, said he favors the establishment of legally enforceable safety standards. He follows the voluntary rules issued by PAPO, he said, but "a lot of people" don't.

Brian Marozzi, president of Visit Palm Beach, is more wary. He welcomes new safety legislation, he said, but worries about the government setting arbitrary requirements. What's more, he said, new rules will be meaningless unless they are enforced. "Are they going to send someone out with tape measures to see how far people are offshore?" he asked.

Sandell said any regulations should be made with input from people who know the business. "We're the ones who know the limits and what's going to keep people safe," he said.

On Friday, Sandell maneuvered a boat off Palm Beach County as a mother and son from Texas glided about 400 feet in the air, a large parasail behind them.

"If it's with a major company, I feel safe. They know what they're doing," said Debbie Vandecarr, after she and her son, Kohner, 8, finished their ride.

On Sunday, a memorial service for Amber White will be held in her hometown near Ocala. Since the accident, Lepel said, he had been in contact with the girl's family. Despite their grief, he said, they want to do what's needed so more families don't suffer the consequences of a serious parasailing accident.

"The sad part is over. Now it's time to get mad," Lepel said.

By Jamie Malernee and Rachael Joyner | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Staff Writers Macollvie Jean-Francois and David Fleshler contributed to this report.

By Bob Massey

If you operate a boat in Charlotte County, odds are one in 2,440 you'll be involved in an accident.

In Sarasota County, although there are more people and boats, your chances are slightly better, one in 2,725.

Charlotte and Sarasota are ranked 22nd and 23rd respectively among Florida's 67 counties for the number of boating accidents reported in 2006. Go south just a little -- into Lee County waters -- and you'll enter an area ranked fifth in the state.

But the concern isn't with local statistics -- it's with the statewide ones.

In 2006, only California (with 757) outpaced Florida (671) in the number of boating accidents. Yet Florida led the nation in fatalities with 69 -- as compared to only 47 in Texas and 44 in California.

That's according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation's 2006 Boating Accident Statistical Report, released last month by the agency's Division of Law Enforcement, Boating and Waterways Section.

So the FWC is preaching a gospel of salvation to boaters -- salvation of lives and property, that is. The report allows the commission to review the most common factors involved in boating accidents, as well as precise locations where the greatest numbers of incidents occur.

According to the report itself, the agency uses the statistics to formulate proactive plans to get -- or at least keep -- the numbers down.

"There are occasions when data ends up being used to identify areas where there are specific areas of safety hazard," said Capt. Richard Moore, the FWC's state boating law administrator. "We'll see if there needs to be an extra regulatory measure put in place, such as a speed zone."

But, Moore said, the area he's proudest to be involved in is public awareness.

"I've been in this business nine years," he said, "and I'm committed to trying to change our boating culture. Our ultimate goal is saving people's lives, so we've got to find a way to change boaters' behavior a little bit. We've even started an ad campaign statewide."

That has to be a tough job when the number of registered boaters in Florida is at an all-time high, at more than 1 million -- an increase of 14,000 over 2005. That doesn't include the estimated 350,000 unregistered boats in the state.

Although Florida is the top state in the nation for the number of recreational vessels, it is second (behind California) for the most boating accidents.

The FWC began a pilot campaign in 2005 in Lee County, Moore said, to educate boaters about the top safety hazards.

"Over and over again, there were three topics of concern," he said. "We found out three were too many to focus on properly, so we narrowed it down to two."

The first factor

The two most common factors may seem like common sense, but apparently that's not so common.

"First and foremost, accidents occur because somebody's not paying close attention to what's going on around them," Moore said. "If you're attentive, chances of you running into something -- or something running into you -- are pretty slim."

One person who would agree with that assessment is Capt. Bruce LaMotte, owner of Lemon Bay Tours in Englewood, which runs sightseeing and nature cruises aboard a 49-passenger catamaran. He said he sometimes dreads going out on the water on weekends.

"One problem on the weekend is boaters who have had way too much to drink or are not paying attention," LaMotte said. "A lot of people get in their boat and don't have a clue about the rules of the road. Some people have the hammer down, going 40 mph -- and I can't see their faces because they're looking at their GPS to see how fast they're going."

Alcohol (and other abused substances), though not in the top two, is certainly an issue. It contributed to 15 percent of all fatal boating accidents.

Drinking while driving a boat is as dangerous -- or perhaps even more so -- than drinking while driving a car, said Captain Ralph Allen, owner of King Fisher Fleet, a cruise and fishing charter service operating out of Fishermen's Village in Punta Gorda.

"On a boat, there are no white lines like there are on the road, to at least keep them going straight," he said.

The second factor

The second factor in boating accidents is as logical as it is preventable.

After careful analysis to determine the primary type of fatal accident, Moore said, "it came back pretty quick that the majority are falls overboard."

Surprisingly, it's not the less aggressive waters of the Gulf where most incidents of this type occur. A whopping 73 percent of fatal falls overboard take place on calm, inland waters such as lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks.

The problem of people falling overboard is not the main concern, however.

"People are going to accidentally fall overboard from time to time," Moore said. "And there are a lot of things we could say, but it would get confusing.

"When you look at Coast Guard statistics, one of the things they said in their national report is 85 percent of the people who drowned in boating accidents could have been saved if they were wearing a life jacket."

Moore compares life jackets on boats to seat belts in cars. They won't eliminate fatalities -- but they sure will reduce them.

"The only thing the law requires is having enough life jackets on boat for the amount of passengers," Moore said. "A lot of these people (who became fatalities) had enough jackets on the boat -- but it wasn't doing them any good because they weren't wearing them."

Moore noted that life jackets do not have to be bulky, obtrusive or uncomfortable.

"They even have inflatable life jackets that look like a fanny pack," he said. "They're flat until you inflate them. It's comfortable to wear in Florida's heat, and it won't even ruin your tan lines."

But how do you persuade boaters to do the right thing?

State of concern

Like Moore, LaMotte feels that education should play a larger role in boater safety.

"I don't like a lot of government," he said, "but I believe people who take boats out should have some kind of (mandatory) education or class."

But there's something else he would like to see: more marine patrols.

"I don't see them out there during the busiest times," LaMotte said. "It would be nice to have them enforce no-wake zones a little bit more. Maybe if they (the offenders) got a ticket, they wouldn't do it as much."

LaMotte is not alone in his desire to see more enforcement. In the commission's 2006 Florida Recreational Boating Survey, nearly half (47 percent) of boaters indicated they want to see more agency enforcement on public waters. A huge 81 percent want greater enforcement on careless or reckless boaters, while more than half (56 percent) want the FWC to crack down on boaters impaired by alcohol or other substances.

Allen said it doesn't seem as if 2007 will be any better in the state.

"It's sad that we have such a high accident rate and fatality rate," Allen said, adding that Florida has had a string of fatal accidents this year all around the state.

"It looks like this will be a record year, the way we're going."