Having learned to love sailing as a child, Greenwich resident Hillary Bercovici never expected that a simple trip from Bermuda would turn into a medical emergency for him, necessitating a rescue at sea.

Mr. Bercovici, an Episcopal priest and pastoral psychotherapist, working as a scholar-in-residence at Trinity Church Greenwich, was part of a crew returning the racing boat Misty, a 40-foot sloop, to Rhode Island from Bermuda two weeks ago, after it had taken part in a race just a few days earlier. An experienced sailor, Mr. Bercovici had made the trip before, but this time bad weather and choppy waters led to his injury.

In an interview with the Post on Tuesday, Mr. Bercovici said they were two days into the trip, which usually takes four to six days depending on conditions, when they encountered some rough seas on June 30.

“It was nothing of great concern,” Mr. Bercovici said when asked about the conditions. “We weren’t in a panic or anything. But when we went to change course we were hit by a wave on the side which swung us around unexpectedly. I got knocked over by the mainsheet, which holds in the mainsail. I don’t really remember what happened, but I’m told I was knocked down and my head hit a winch. I got a concussion and it opened up a two-and-a-half-inch gash over my right eye.”

Despite the blow to the head, Mr. Bercovici never lost consciousness and in fact believed he was fine at first.

“Everyone was around me asking if I was OK, and I kept telling them, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine. What’s the big deal?’” Mr. Bercovici recalled. “They told me I was bleeding and at first I didn’t believe them but then I held my hand up to my head and saw it was covered in blood.”

Mr. Bercovici was immediately taken below deck and treated in an attempt to stop the bleeding. It was then that his condition began to worsen. Since they were more than 200 miles from land, the boat had to use the satellite phone to call the Coast Guard and make contact with a doctor.

“Apparently I got a bit on the incoherent side,” Mr. Bercovici said. “I’m told I was getting very confused and the bleeding wouldn’t stop. I started hallucinating and seeing people that weren’t there. I remember thinking there were all these people there in costume like it was a Halloween party or something. It was definitely a very weird experience for me. I had never gone through anything like that in my life.”

The Coast Guard said it would be able to get assistance to Misty, but it would take six hours. That concerned the doctor with whom the crew was in contact. While the bleeding was not a concern, the hallucinations were, and the doctor was concerned it was a symptom of a far more serious injury than a concussion, and required immediate attention. It was then that an alternate idea was put forth by the Coast Guard.

A cruise ship, the Norwegian Dawn, was about 32 nautical miles away and was participating in the Amver program with the Coast Guard. That meant the ship was available for assistance if needed, and it was called upon. Despite the bad weather, with rain and wind gusts up to 33 knots and reported 20-foot swells, the ship was able to locate the Misty, lower a rescue boat with three crew members and get Mr. Bercovici on board.

The ship offered all the luxuries vacationers enjoy, but the onboard physician was what Mr. Bercovici needed most. As soon as he was safely on the ship, Mr. Bercovici was able to get the treatment he needed. The doctor stopped the bleeding and diagnosed his hallucinations. Mr. Bercovici had been wearing a scopolamine patch behind his ear to help him combat some seasickness, and the medicine combined with the blow to the head to trigger the hallucinations.

Once the patch was removed the medicine began to wear off, and after almost eight hours, the hallucinations stopped. Once he was given different medication to help him get his balance back, Mr. Bercovici was able to leave the infirmary. But he couldn’t return home just yet. The Norwegian Dawn had been headed to Bermuda when it picked him up, so he returned to where he started.

Mr. Bercovici said he didn’t mind.

“It sure beat a Coast Guard cutter,” he said. “The company was really good to me. Everyone on board was just incredible.” The Norwegian Cruise Line allowed him to stay as a guest for free. Andrew Gigla, who had suffered shock-like symptoms while taking part in a sailboat race off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., was also given lodging.

Mr. Bercovici praised the boat’s captain, Trygve Vorren. In order to get Mr. Bercovici off the Misty and onto the Norwegian Dawn, Mr. Vorren had to maneuver the nearly 1,000-foot-long cruise ship against the considerably smaller Misty, and Mr. Bercovici said he did everything skillfully. Both Mr. Bercovici and Mr. Gigla got to know Capt. Vorren during the trip to Bermuda, as they got the rare privilege of being allowed on the bridge to meet the senior crew, including those who had done the actual rescues.

“It was wonderful to meet these guys,” Mr. Bercovici said. “It was very moving.”

Having left his wallet and passport on the Misty in all the confusion, Mr. Bercovici was able to get a loan from the crew so he could get to the airport, where his wife was waiting for him to get him back to Greenwich.

Mr. Bercovici’s injury proved to be a mild concussion, and he is nearly fuly recovered. Because of the concussion, at first he was sleeping 16 hours a day, but now he’s back to normal sleep patterns.

The accident has done nothing to cool Mr. Bercovici’s love of sailing. He and his wife are planning an August trip in their own boat for some coastal cruising.

“I’m getting stronger every day,” Mr. Bercovici said. “I feel like I’m all the way back, but I’m being told not to just rush back... and ease into it.”

The Clipper Pacific, a cruise ship home ported in the Bahamas, will submit a complete repair proposal for the hull damage and 66 violations found during the inspection. The proposal includes sufficient temporary repairs that will allow the vessel to safely travel to their next port of call, where it will make permanent repairs.

The Coast Guard and the vessel's classification society have reviewed plans for repair from the ship's master and will conduct a final exam tomorrow morning to determine if the Captain of the Port Order to detain the Clipper Pacific will be lifted and the vessel deemed safe to sail.

A six-person examination team from Coast Guard Sector New York boarded the Clipper Pacific at 8 a.m. Sunday to conduct a routine safety inspection. Upon entering New York Harbor the ship's master reported a gash about one inch in length on the left side of the vessel sustained prior to coming to port.

Further investigation by the Coast Guard team identified the other 66 discrepancies such as fire safety, lifeboat damages and life jacket issues on the vessel. This inspection lasted from Sunday morning to Tuesday evening.

The Clipper Pacific is carrying approximately 1,200 passengers and crew members.

The cruise ship was inbound from Greenland when it was stopped by the Coast Guard.

According to reports by Princess Cruise Line accident lawyers at Ehline Law, a spokes person for Crown Princess, Julie Benson have released information in the latest cruise passengers to go overboard on one of their ships.

This time it was the Princess Cruise’s Grand Princess that was approximately 150 miles off of the Galveston Coast when two passengers fell from a balcony. According to the statements by Benson the pair, a 22 year old man and a 20 year old woman fell from a balcony at approximately 1:30 a.m. Their friends alerted the captain of the ship who then turned the ship to go in search of the two passengers.

The captain of the Grand Princess and crew used high powered spot lights and rescue boats to search for the man and woman. Each were found and picked up by rescue boats, one at 5:300a.m. and the other at 6:00 p.m.

These passengers are the latest passengers that have fallen overboard on cruise ships, there have also been passengers such as Mike Mankamyer a passenger on the Carnival Glory, who was rescued by the Coast Guard after falling about 60 feet from the ship and later found approximately 30 miles from the Ft. Lauderdale coast.

Then there was the case of Daniel Dipiero who went overboard for his family to find out later that after being turned away at one bar aboard ship he was then served at another. Later he found his way to a deck chair where he slept until waking feeling sick and went to the rail to be ill. The next piece of the tape this was seen on shows the young man slipping over the rail. This incident occurred on a Royal Caribbean ship Mariner of the Seas.

The list goes on with passengers who have gone overboard on cruise ships with names like Mindy Jordan and Lynsey O’Brien.

In his new book, Unsafe on the High Seas: Your Guide to a Safer Cruise, veteran maritime lawyer Charles Lipcon exposes the seamy underbelly of the cruise industry, calling attention to the litany of potential problems that may ruin the vacation of a lifetime— sexual assaults, shipboard disappearances, unaccredited doctors, inadequate security and noroviruses, among them.

"There are hazards when taking a cruise," the Key Biscayne resident says, "but what it boils down to is people not using commons sense. For some reason when people get on a ship they feel like they’re totally protected, like they’re in a totally safe cocoon, but that’s not always the case."

Based on his 35 years of experience, Lipcon’s book bristles with shocking true stories of cruise-ship passengers who have been injured, victimized or harmed while at sea.

"It’s sort of premised on problem areas I’ve seen," says Lipcon, who is affiliated with the law firm Lipcon, Margulies and Alsina P.A., located near the Port of Miami.

The son of a U.S. Naval officer, Lipcon traveled extensively when he was a youth. He attended the University of Miami and received his bachelors degree with a dual major in political science and philosophy. He subsequently attended UM’s School of Law and received his Juris Doctor degree.

Lipcon began to practice law in Miami, just as the cruise industry as we know it today was forming. His first case, involving a crewman who’d had an accident aboard a ship, initiated the young attorney into the intricacies of the industry. He learned that a ship may be built in Italy, based in the U.S. and fly a Liberian flag. That led the young lawyer to wonder: "So whose jurisdiction is it under? Whose laws apply?"

In order to sue for reparations for the crewman, Lipcon had to slog through "layers of laws" and international treaties to discover who was responsible and who to file suit against. He won his case for the crewman, and in the more than three decades since, he’s won awards on behalf of both crewmen and passengers while setting precedents in maritime law.

"What I found so interesting about that case is that most of these ships are part of a corporate maze— the employer of the crew is one company, the owner of the ship is a different company, the operator is another company and the shareholders are from another county. So there a lot of overlapping jurisdictions to got through. As a lawyer, you have to work your way through that maze of international laws— it’s like handling a very complex puzzle."

Unsafe on the High Seas is the result of Lipcon’s 35 years of first-hand experience in maritime law. It is an offshoot of his dedicated quest and subsequent success in exposing the secrets the cruise industry does not want passengers to know.

The book’s dedication reads: "For the victims of accidents and crimes on board cruise ships. It is my hope that this book will assist future cruise line passengers from becoming victims. If only one person is helped by this book, I will feel that it has been worth the effort."

In a chapter titled "A Pattern of Cover-ups," Lipcon showcases the variety of tricks the cruise industry uses to smooth over problems and avoid lawsuits and damaging publicity.

"They know how to take advantage of every wrinkle in the law and they are behind a very powerful lobbying group," says Lipcon.

Another chapter in Lipcon’s cruise-ship survival guide details problems involving unaccredited ship physicians. To illustrate the extent of the problem, Lipcon mentions a woman who needed medical attention after injuring her head in a fall. Due to substandard medical equipment and an erroneous diagnosis by the ship doctor, the woman wound up becoming a paraplegic.

"My advice is that if you have a serious medical problem, get off the ship as quickly as possible and get advice from your personal physician," says Lipcon.

Most disturbingly, "the cruise lines disavow any liability for the ship doctor, which I personally think is outrageous," adds Lipcon.

From easy-to-follow rules for staying safe in a cruise ship environment to sensible talk about health and sanitation issues, Lipcon’s brisk 116-page book contains helpful advice for future cruise ship passengers to avoid the risks and hazards that can spoil their experience.

"When people are in a big city, their antennas go up and they’re alert, but when they’re on a cruise ship, they let their guard down," says Lipcon. "The purpose of my book is to make people aware that there are hazards on cruise ships, just like anywhere else."

Lipcon says his book offers sensible advice to guide a passenger from the purchase of the ticket (which is a binding contract) until the end of the voyage.

"My hope is that people will leaf through this book before boarding a cruise ship," says Lipcon, "because I believe many of the horrific things that have happened on ships could’ve been avoided had people read my book."

Unsafe on the High Seas: Your Guide to a Safer Cruise is available on Amazon.com and other online book retailers.

When Merrian Carver went missing on the second day of a Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska in 2004, her family members say they weren't notified by the cruise line.

In fact Kendall Carver, the father of the 40-year-old woman from Massachusetts, says after his daughter's disappearance his family had to cope with a painful "cover-up" by cruise ship officials.

The incident went unreported to the FBI until weeks after the disappearance, and was only reported then because Carver contacted Royal Caribbean.

The cruise line, which had already disposed of most of Merrian's belongings, indicated to the FBI that nothing had happened on the cruise, says Carver, and refused to permit Carver to interview the steward who had looked after his daughter's cabin.

"We determined that we wanted to speak to one person (the steward) on board that ship, and to do that we had to hire an international detective agency, two law firms, take court action in two states and spend $75,000." It was only after a court-ordered deposition, Carver says, that "we found out they were lying to us the whole time" as the steward had in fact reported Merrian's disappearance. She has never been found.

Carver has since formed the International Cruise Victims Association to support victims and help bring about change in an industry that has been accused of being arrogant and uncaring toward victims of crimes perpetrated during a cruise.

It has been said that cruise ships are the perfect place to commit a crime. This is because international cruise lines operate under foreign "flags of convenience" and are not required under U.S. law to report crimes that occur outside of U.S. territorial waters.

Although cruise lines have agreed to voluntarily report crimes committed at sea to the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard, this currently only applies to Americans.

NDP MP Denise Savoie and NDP Transport Critic Brian Masse want some protection in place for Canadians as well and are asking for a written commitment from Miami-based Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) to report all crimes committed against Canadian passengers and crew while on board international cruise ships.

"I'm asking why is the industry not reporting to Canadian authorities and why has our government not stepped up and demanded this," says Savoie, whose riding of Victoria will receive 211 international ship visits this year and an additional 10 "pocket-ship" visits.

Savoie's call coincides with a Senate hearing led by U.S. Senator John Kerry on the issue of crime on cruise ships. Last week, Kerry introduced legislation that would improve safety and accountability. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House of Congress.

The Senate hearing and also a series of Congressional hearings in recent years heard from victims of cruise ship crime and their families who felt abandoned and frustrated with what they said was a cavalier attitude and a lack of cooperation from the industry.

Critics and victims accuse cruise lines of attempting to conceal crimes while the only "punishment" meted out to crew members is to fire them. However, these workers are often able to get hired on another ship.

While most who take a cruise will never encounter any problems, victims of a crime may find that they're on their own.

Ross Klein, a professor of social work at Newfoundland's Memorial University, says that while the industry has agreed to report crimes to the FBI, the agreement has no teeth because it is done on a voluntary basis and there's no obligation to make the crimes public.

"Back in 1999 the cruise lines announced a zero tolerance policy but that certainly hasn't been the case in practice given the numbers of sexual assaults and other crimes," he says.

While the industry insists passengers are safer at sea than on land, Klein says his research shows that the rate for sexual assaults on cruise ships is about 57 per 100,000.

"That's about 80 to 90 per cent higher than the rate for forcible rape in the U.S. Particularly significant is that it is more than three times higher than what the industry claimed in their testimony before Congress in 2006."

Passengers as well as crew members can be both victims and perpetrators. Children have been sexually assaulted as well.

People disappear from cruise ships at the rate of about 20 per year, says Klein, some of which take place "under very mysterious circumstances."

"In some cases they are suicides, in some cases they are accidents, but certainly the majority of cases remain questionable in terms of how and why that person disappeared."

Klein, who testified at the Senate and Congressional hearings, has written extensively about the cruise industry and often appears as an expert witness on cruise ship crime. He has also joined in the call for Canadian regulations.

While requests for an interview with the CLIA were not granted, CLIA president Terry Dale told the Senate hearing that the industry's "care and compassion" in dealing with victims of crime has not always been satisfactory.

However, he said cruise lines "have made great strides in the past two years to improve our procedures to provide more support to those who have been injured or families that have been affected."

Dale also said that both the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard have testified that the voluntary reporting system is working efficiently.

Some commentators believe the high number of sexual assaults during cruises is partially due to staff being separated from their wives or girlfriends for up to six months at a time and a party atmosphere on board where alcohol flows freely.

Miami-based Charles Lipcon, a maritime lawyer for 30 years, cites an additional reason.

"I believe that the number of sexual assaults on cruise ships is increasing quite a bit. I think the word is out among sexual predators that you can go on a ship and rape someone and nothing happens to you even if you're caught. So what kind of message is that?"

Date rape drugs are increasingly used in sexual assaults on cruise ships, says Lipcon, adding that in his experience the cruise lines first and foremost scramble to safeguard themselves rather than the victim in the event of a crime.

While the U.S. government has jurisdiction over crimes involving U.S. citizens and residents, Lipcon says investigations usually lead nowhere because in many cases law enforcement cannot board the ship until a few days after a crime is committed and evidence is often not properly preserved.

In an industry worth an estimated $35.7 billion, Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines account for about 94 per cent of the North American market.

The ships are registered in countries such as Liberia, Panama and Bermuda, and pay little if any corporate tax. Some ships carry up to 4,000 passengers.

As well as testifying at the hearings, Carver says he has had "feel-good meetings" with cruise industry officials several times who, he says, agree to make improvements but never do.

He hopes Kerry's bill will be passed, but given the lobbying power of the industry, he's not holding his breath.

"Last year they spent $2,800,000 in Washington lobbying — you're talking big money. We know we're in an uphill struggle but at least we're giving them a lot of heartburn."

Lt. Cmdr. Inocencio Rosario slipped on the string of light blue beads for luck, and hoped that it was an omen that a miracle was still possible, that survivors would be found inside the hulking vessel.

Typhoon Fengshen toppled the seven-story ferry Saturday as it cut a deadly swath through the central Philippines. Only four dozen survivors have been found; more than 800 passengers and crew are missing.

With each passing day, the hope of finding them dimmed.

"I felt sad when I saw the bodies," Rosario said, still wearing the beads. "I can imagine what they went through."

Rosario, whose name translates as "rosary," didn't think there would be any survivors, but "I believe in miracles."

"I hope somebody there is alive," he said. "We have only probed about 15 percent of the ship."

About 30 divers were on hand, including some U.S. Navy frogmen who were expected to take turns searching the vessel Wednesday and help map the seabed. The ferry, about 500 yards off Sibuyan island, is lying on unstable coral.

Nearby villagers said a deep trench may be nearby, so there are concerns the vessel could slip and plunge deeper.

The storm's toll on shore includes 227 dead and 275 missing in the worst-hit region, with dozens reported killed elsewhere by floods and landslides. It caused an estimated $74.2 million in crop damage.

The roiling seas left in the storm's wake had kept rescue workers away from the ferry until calm, sunny conditions Tuesday allowed the divers to slip inside. Only the tip of the bow juts from the water.

The conditions were treacherous. Coast guard chief Vice Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo said the divers broke windows and used every other gap they could find to get inside the 23,824-ton Princess of the Stars.

Once inside, they found bodies in air pockets along with chairs, baggage, shoes and shards of broken glass. Iron bars, twisted by the sudden capsizing, jutted out here and there.

One body was dressed in a ship's officer uniform and was clutching a two-way radio, officials said.

Passengers could have survived initially — life jackets were on some bodies — and some may have suffocated as they waited for rescuers delayed by the storm, Philippine navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said.

"It seems the passengers hesitated from jumping in turbulent waters" because "it happened too sudden," Arevalo told dzBB radio, referring to survivors' accounts of the ship quickly listing and going down in a half-hour or less.

"(With the life vests) you will survive for a few hours, but in time, the air will run out," he added.

Arevalo said the priority is how to extricate the bodies, either by attaching weights to them and pulling them out or cutting through the hull — a prospect complicated by a cargo of bunker oil that could leak.

Only three bodies were pulled out Tuesday.

While some relatives tearfully waited for news, others angrily questioned why the ship was allowed to leave Manila late Friday for a 20-hour trip to Cebu with a typhoon approaching.

Sulpicio Lines said it sailed with coast guard approval. The company's services have been suspended pending an investigation and a check of its other ships' seaworthiness.

Fengshen was expected to hit Taiwan and southeast China — an area already coping with flooding — on Wednesday.

By JIM GOMEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS

On a day when lawmakers in Washington heard stories about crimes on cruise ships, a Florida woman filed suit against Carnival claiming she was raped by a fellow passenger on a cruise ship in February.

The lawsuit by Morgan Black, 30, of Jacksonville, is the latest accusation against an industry plagued by complaints that crimes on the high seas often go unpunished.

Representing Black is Gloria Allred, a California-based lawyer known for high-profile crusades on behalf of crime victims, and Charles Lipcon, a Miami attorney who specializes in cruise litigation. Accompanied by Black, Allred held a news conference at a downtown Miami law office to publicize the suit.

"I am not the same person that I was before the cruise attack, and I will never be that person again," said Black, reading a statement.

According to the suit, Black, a piano teacher and mother of three, departed Miami on Feb. 1 on a specialty cruise on the Carnival Victory, a Sixthman Music Cruise.

On Feb. 4, the last night of the cruise, Black was drugged and raped, the lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Miami said.

The woman said she told her story to the FBI but would not discuss whether charges have been filed.

The suit, alleging negligence, asserts Carnival and Sixthman should have made security cameras available in every public area.

In a statement, Carnival Cruise Lines said it hadn't seen the suit and couldn't comment on it.

However, it added: "We want to reinforce that the safety and well-being of our guests and crew is Carnival's No. 1 priority.

"We maintain a high level of security through an onboard uniformed security force. Certified shipboard security officers work in tandem with Carnival's shoreside security department, which is made up of many highly experienced former law enforcement professionals."

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C. Thursday, a U.S. Senate subcommittee held a hearing on cruise-ship safety and potential steps for keeping Americans safe at sea.

It was the first hearing by a Senate panel, although others have been held by House committees.

Among those testifying was Kendall Carver, president of International Cruise Victims Association, an advocacy group he started after his daughter disappeared during a cruise almost three years ago.

"The meeting went well," Carver said. "I was extremely pleased with it."

Lipcon, who recently published a book on spotlighting unlawful incidents on cruise ships, said: "Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. It happens all too often."

Advocates say the causes include a lack of government involvement, ambiguous jurisdictions, and corporate policies. Lipcon estimated he files about one lawsuit a week against a cruise line.

Hearings on "Cruise Ship Safety: Examining Potential Steps for Keeping Americans Safe at Sea"
[PDF 420K]

It is reported that the woman identified as Morgan Black a mother and piano teacher from Jacksonville who went on the Sixthman Music Cruise on the ship Carnival Victory.

Morgan’s suit claims she was drugged and raped by a fellow passenger the last night of the cruise, which was February 4th.

In her suit that is being presented by her attorneys Charles Lipcon of Miami, a cruise ship litigation attorney and Gloria Allred the attorney from California who has taken part in victims rights cases. The Carnival Cruise Line is being held responsible for neglecting to have security cameras in all of the common areas of the ship.

Lipcon, Morgan’s attorney has a published book that discusses these type of incidences that he states happens often and he estimated that he files approximately one suit a week for victims of cruise ships. [The books is called Unsafe on the High Seas and can be purchased here].

It is reported that the cruise line has made a statement that they would not comment on this case, as they have not seen the suit, however their priority is to keep passengers and the crew safe on their ships. They have security officers who are not in uniform on their cruises and many are retired police officers and other law professionals on board their ships.

This case was filed in the U.S. District Court in Miami on Thursday June 19th as a U.S. Senate subcommittee in Washington D.C. was hearing evidence as to the safety for passengers aboard cruise ships. Among those who testified was Kendall Carver whose daughter disappeared approximately three years ago from a cruise ship and is the president of International Cruise Victims.

While Carver stated he was pleased with the way this committee meeting went, part of the reason that these meetings are necessary are because of what advocates say is a non-existence of government involvement, vague jurisdictions and their corporate policies.

This was the first hearing held to discuss the safety of American passengers on cruise ships although there have been meetings on this issue by House Committee.

by Otto Smyth
cruiseshiplawsuits.blogspot.com

Previous hearings in the House were held by Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT).

Senator Kerry was driven to hold companion hearings in the Senate after meeting Ken Carver, whose daughter Merrian disappeared on a cruise in 2004. Merrian was a resident of Cambridge, MA.

"Passenger safety should be the top priority for the cruise line industry, and it's clear that they have work to do," said Sen. Kerry. "It's just plain wrong that disappearances and serious crimes can occur aboard these ships that are not reported, investigated, or prosecuted.
Shifting legal jurisdictions are no excuse for endangering the safety of cruise ship travelers. Ken Carver's tireless commitment to reforming safety regulations sends a crystal clear message -cruise ships need to take care of their passengers. I'll be introducing legislation in the coming weeks to make these ships safer and hold the industry accountable."

"After multiple hearings, it is clear that we must take action to bring sunshine to the cruise industry," said Rep. Matsui. "Cruise companies must ensure the safety and security of their patrons and act responsibly to prevent crimes from happening. Americans taking cruise vacations have a reasonable expectation to be informed of potential risks to their safety, and to have proper reporting and evidence-gathering in the aftermath of a crime. They have a right to be treated with dignity and respect."

"It's important we continue the efforts to improve cruise ship safety which began in the last Congress, when I chaired the National Security Subcommittee," said Rep. Shays. "The bottom line is, the crime statistics provided by the cruise industry are inaccurate and inadequate. This must change."

-----------------------
Whitney Smith
Deputy Press Secretary
Senator John Kerry
(202) 224-4159
kerry.senate.gov

Download file
[PDF 420K]

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.

Video clip from WSVN 7 Ten O'Clock News

View Clip [Windows Media]

Airdate: June 3, 2008
Subject: Cruise Lines And Medical Care
Program: WSVN 7 Ten O'Clock News

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