More details trickle out on Empress of the North grounding in Alaska
The NTSB has released a few more details about the May 14 grounding incident involving sternwheeler Empress of the North, a riverboat operated by Majestic America Line. The crew was apparently trying to complete a turn, and failed, when the boat "raked across a rocky shoal" although still no word on why the turn failed.
After hitting the Rocky Island shoal about 25 miles southwest of Juneau, the boat drifted for two miles and came to rest on a reef, where the approximately 200 passengers, and many of the 75 crew members, were safely evacuated. The dual-hulled vessel's outer hull was badly damaged in the incident.
Empress of the North has since been towed to a dock for further analysis.
The next step for the NTSB is to analyze the ship's voyage data recorder, similar to an airplane's "black box," which hopefully will fill in the blanks as to precisely why this accident occurred.
After hitting the Rocky Island shoal about 25 miles southwest of Juneau, the boat drifted for two miles and came to rest on a reef, where the approximately 200 passengers, and many of the 75 crew members, were safely evacuated. The dual-hulled vessel's outer hull was badly damaged in the incident.
Empress of the North has since been towed to a dock for further analysis.
The next step for the NTSB is to analyze the ship's voyage data recorder, similar to an airplane's "black box," which hopefully will fill in the blanks as to precisely why this accident occurred.
posted by Evan Eggers at 5/18/2007 08:10:00 PM
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2 Comments:
The site gCaptain has some juicy internal insight into the crash.
Empress Of The North
Have to feel for the passengers, holiday may have been ruined. I hope they get a free replacement.
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