Miami law enforcement is investigating a boat accident that sent one passenger to the hospital. It appears from facts reported from various new sources that nine people — five women and four men between the ages of 18 and 24 — were aboard a 19 foot jet-boat when it crashed into a wood piling about 8:30 PM on the night of January 24th. 911 was called on scene by one of the passengers.
Cruise lines operating international passenger voyages are now required to conduct muster / lifeboat drills before or shortly after the voyage begins. The Convention of the Safety of Life at Sea (commonly known as SOLAS) requires such drills so that passengers are made aware of their muster station location and instructed on the proper use of life preservers. Instruction on the procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency is also provided.
Most American are unaware that international law caps damages for passengers who are hurt or die on cruises that leave from, call on and return to foreign ports. Adopted in 1974, the Athens Convention was intended to consolidate two earlier conventions addressing passenger injuries and luggage losses. Nearly every American cruise line adopts the Athens Convention for their wholly foreign cruises. For example, the below language is found in Royal Caribbean’s ticket contract:
A 4-year-boy nearly drowned in a wave pool aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Oasis of the Seas is in critical condition at a Broward hospital. The cruise ship was less than two hours into its voyage when the boy wandered into the wave pool located on one of the top decks. The child was under water for an estimated five to ten minutes before being rescued by a passenger. Once he was taken out of the water, the ship’s medical team resuscitated the boy. The ship returned to Port Everglades where firefighters and paramedics were standing by to provide emergency additional medical care while transporting the child to an area hospital.
A new federal law passed earlier this month that would require the Department of Transportation to report crimes that were allegedly committed onboard a cruise ship. The new law is quite a departure from its predecessor, the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, which only made incident data available if the alleged crime was “no longer under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
