14 DAY TRIAL // This past Sunday, five people lost their lives in the waters off Spain's Canary Islands as a result of a lifeboat drill that for one reason or another went terribly wrong.
Information made available to the general public thus far says that these five people all passed away after a lifeboat ended up taking a rather unexpected dive from a height of nearly 30 meters (roughly 98.5 feet).
For the time being, the exact cause of the accident is unknown. However, an ongoing investigation is expected to shed some new light on the string of events that has ultimately led to this tragedy.
Apparently, all these five men were part and parcel of the crew aboard the Thomson Majesty, a ship belonging to Britain's Thomson Cruises.
Despite the fact that, when this lifeboat drill accident occurred, roughly 2000 passengers (1000 / 1400 according to other reports) also found themselves aboard the vessel, it looks like no run-off-the-mill traveler was injured.
Still, three other crewmen, who also took part in the lifeboat drill, were harmed and required urgent medical attention, Travel News reports.
“One person has been discharged from hospital and we expect the other two people to be released from hospital imminently,” argued a spokesperson for the company.
Presently, the victims of this accident have not had their identities disclosed by the authorities and Thomson Cruises employees are investigating the event.
By the looks of it, three of them were from Indonesia, another one was from Ghana and the fifth one was a Filipino.
“Our thoughts are with the families of those involved. We are working closely with the ship owners and managers, Louis Cruises, to determine exactly what has happened and provide assistance to those affected by the incident,” reads a statement issued by said company.
Furthermore, “We are also working closely with all relevant authorities and will be co-operating fully with their investigations.”
The accident took place while said British cruise ship found itself docked in Santa Cruz de La Palma, a city in Spain's Canary Islands.