Star Princess probe complete
SOUTHAMPTON, UK 23 October – The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) concluded that the March fire aboard Princess Cruises’ Star Princess was made possible by inadequate balcony flammability regulation, but congratulated the industry for its rapid response. According to the MAIB, the fire started on a Deck 10 balcony and was “probably caused by a discarded cigarette”. The fire then spread rapidly to adjacent balconies and to Decks 11 and 12, as well as into staterooms as heat shattered glass balcony doors. The MAIB noted that the Star Princess balconies met requirements of Solas II-2, which allowed for highly combustible polycarbonate balcony partitions, non-fire-rated glass doors and no balcony fire detection or suppression systems. Since the fire, in which one passenger died of smoke inhalation, cruise lines and regulators have moved quickly to enact far more robust fire prevention protocols for balconies. Related amendments to the Solas Convention are up for adoption this December, and the MAIB has no further recommendations beyond those already proposed for consideration. MAIB chief inspector Stephen Meyer praised the cruise industry for the speed with which action has been taken, noting that Carnival Corp began replacing all combustible dividers on its 26,400 balconies immediately after the fire, and expects to have 100% non-combustible partitions installed by the year end.
Via Fairplay.co.uk
Etiquetas: cruise market, cruises, incidents
This entry was posted
on lunes, octubre 23, 2006 at 5:54 p. m..
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