- SAINT-NAZAIRE, France
(Reuters) - Thirteen people died and 31 were injured on Saturday when a
dockside gangway to the world's biggest and most expensive cruise ship,
the Queen Mary 2, collapsed at Saint-Nazaire in western France.
-
- There for a weekend visit to the luxury liner, over 40
friends and family members of shipyard workers were crossing the gangway
to the boat when its gave way, eyewitnesses said.
-
- The group plunged some 82 feet to the ground. Thirteen
people died and nine of the injured were in serious condition, including
five with grave head wounds, according to hospital officials.
-
- Bernard Boucault, top administrator for the Loire-Atlantique
region, categorically denied there were any children among the victims,
as some media reports suggested.
-
- "Never have we seen such a tragedy," Saint-Nazaire
mayor Joel Batteux told reporters, choking back tears. "How could
these people die at the foot of our town's proudest symbol?"
-
- About 50 rescue vehicles and one helicopter descended
on the scene. An emergency hospital was set up at the base of the massive
ship and psychologists attended to family members of the victims.
-
- Outside the hospital in central Saint-Nazaire, a modest
port town where one in 10 people work for the shipyard, dozens of anguished
faces hovered waiting for news on their relatives.
-
- "My daughter is in a state of shock," said
Muriel Leduc, the wife of a shipyard worker, as she left the emergency
room. "She was standing on the dock, awaiting her turn when the platform
collapsed. She heard the cries of the injured."
-
- The Queen Mary 2 is undergoing final stages of construction
at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, owned by French heavy engineering
firm Alstom, and completed its final sea trials off the Brittany coast
last week.
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- LARGEST PASSENGER BOAT BUILT
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- The ship is being built for Carnival Corp's Cunard Line
at a cost of around $800 million. The largest passenger ship ever built,
the massive boat stretches the length of four football fields and stands
as high as a 23-storey building.
-
- Cunard President Pamela Conover extended her "deepest
sympathies" to the victims of the accident.
-
- French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre
Raffarin will both visit the site of the accident on Sunday.
-
- Alstom officials said the visitors were part of a larger
group that is permitted on the liner every Saturday.
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- "For each shipyard worker, the construction of a
cruise liner is a source of pride to be shared with friends and family,"
said Philippe Bouquet-Nadeau, the head of human resources for Alstom Marine.
"That is why we always authorize these visits. It is a very old tradition."
-
- The gangway which collapsed was put in place by specialist
French firm Endel, a unit of French utilities giant Suez. Alstom officials
said it was designed to hold far more people than were on it when it gave
way.
-
- The original ocean liner Queen Mary entered service on
Cunard's prestigious Atlantic route in 1936, becoming one of the best known
ships of the golden age of liners.
-
- Britain's Queen Elizabeth is due to officially launch
the new ship on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, on January 12.
-
- The ship has an onboard planetarium and art gallery and
will carry about 3,000 passengers on its first 15-day cruise. A ticket
for a top cabin on the ship's first cruise will cost around $40,000.
-
- The accident is the latest blow for struggling Alstom,
which nearly collapsed earlier this year due to a cash shortage before
the French government saved it with a controversial bailout.
-
- The company has said it is "reviewing its options"
for the marine unit, which has seen orders drop sharply amid a slump in
tourism triggered by the September 11 attacks, an economic downturn and
the war in Iraq.
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