Amateur Video of Louis Majesty Tragedy Surfaces



2010 March, 4th
Phil Butler
Phil Butler
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Two people have been killed, and an undetermined number injured as giant waves crash into a Mediterranean cruise ship. Owner of the cruise ship Louis Majesty, Louis Cruises, told reporters that three “abnormally high” waves broke over the cruise ship in high winds off Marseilles. Everything PR News discovered amateur video of the event from one of the passengers on YouTube.

The Louis Majesty is a luxury cruise ship of 680 feet and over 45,000 tons. The ship offers over 700 staterooms on 10 passenger decks according to the line’s website. Reports coming in from Barcelona reveal the Louis Majesty was hit by waves in excess of 30 feet which smashed portals and flooded some compartments. The impact stunned passengers and obviously critically injured at least two.

The ship came about and headed back to Barcelona after the incident because of the damage and foul weather. Spanish news reports revealed one of those killed as a 62 year old female passenger, but no further details on the fatalities have been issued. Passengers interviewed told reporters they were terrified at the crashing of the waves over the ship. Louis Majesty has reportedly continued now on its 12 day expedition around the Med.

The video below reveals one passenger filming the 20 foot seas and 60 mph winds over the port side railing as one huge 30 foot rogue wave strikes the liner. Editor’s note: The two videos below of the Louis Majesty appear to be authentic. We will continue to research for an absolute match however.

Update: The first video we included (which we have removed) was in fact a splice made to look authentic. Two of our readers pointed this out, and we thank them. There are so many popping up attempting to appear genuine, we will continue our scrutiny.

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    Phil Butler is editor-in-chief of Everything PR and senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. He’s a widely cited authority on beta startups, search engines and public relations issues, and he has covered tech news since 2004. Phil wrote in the past for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Profy, SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, AltSearchEngines. Follow Phil on Twitter or send him an email at phil [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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    There Are 8 Responses So Far. »

    1. Pingback by Huge waves kills 2 on cruise ship in Mediterranean - Cruising Talk on 4 March 2010:

      [...] an amateur video in this article: Amateur Video of Louis Majesty Tragedy Surfaces And here are some passenger accounts: Passenger describes 'terrifying' ordeal as giant waves hit [...]

    2. Comment by Dan on 4 March 2010:

      the first video is not real its a splice. the original is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zB96KxyiUU

    3. Comment by caroline on 4 March 2010:

      the 1st video is not authentic and was posted on YouTube in 2007.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UaM2RIvFTs

    4. Comment by Phil Butler on 4 March 2010:

      Thanks Caroline, I am attending this now as so many have tried to mash these together to make an authentic one. Again, thanks for your help.

      Always,
      Phil

    5. Comment by Phil Butler on 4 March 2010:

      Thanks Dan, I suspected it too. I will revise as I am sure you are correct.

      Always,
      Phil

    6. Comment by JJ on 4 March 2010:

      This video was posted 3 years ago and is NOT from the Louis Majesty. Yes it is of a rogue wave but not the one mentioned in the article.

    7. Comment by Phil Butler on 4 March 2010:

      Thanks JJ, We removed that one which I admit I was skeptical about in the first place. The railing is different and there is not nearly as much freeboard on the vessel it was taken from. The Louis Majesty has a very high freeboard, or distance from the weather deck to the water. I appreciate so much you guys helping out, we are trying to provide good content on this but correct content. Thanks again.

      Always,
      Phil

    8. Comment by adam on 4 March 2010:

      That wave strike is a rogue wave that hit the Empire State. A research vessel for the SUNY College out of NYC. Her dock is right alongside the Throgs Neck Bridge in NY.