Five Injured in Lifeboat Exercise on Cruise Ship Arcadia

Five people were injured in a routine training exercise involving a lifeboat on Carnival Cruises’ vessel Arcadia on January 5.

The ship’s lifeboat reportedly broke from the cabling and fell from its davits into the sea while the cruise ship was in Ponta Delgada, Azores.

UK’s National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Workers said that it has written to safety regulators and the cruise ship industry body demanding urgent action over the incident.

In a letter to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, RMT is demanding a tighter regulatory regime and improved maintenance to ensure both crew and passenger safety.

Additionally, the union has written to both Carnival Cruises and the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA) raising similar points.

The incident on Arcadia “should serve as a wake-up call to entire cruise industry that we need improvements and changes to the regulatory and maintenance regime and we need them now,” Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary, said.