http://www.smh.com.au/world/killer-waves-take-two-on-mediterranean-cruise-20100304-plt5.html
Killer waves take two on Mediterranean cruise March 5, 2010 BARCELONA: Two people were killed and 14 injured when three massive waves slammed into a cruise ship carrying almost 2000 people in the western Mediterranean, the ship's owners said. A series of three ''abnormally high'' waves smashed windows in the Louis Majesty, said the ship's Cypriot owner, Louis Cruises. Three freak or ''rogue waves'' together are referred to as ''three sisters''. ''Louis Cruises regrets to announce that its Maltese-flagged cruise ship, MV Louis Majesty, while sailing from Barcelona to Genoa, was hit by abnormal waves. ''As a result, the windows in a public area on deck 5 on the forward part of the vessel smashed, resulting in the fatal injury of two passengers of German and Italian nationality, while 14 more passengers suffered light injuries,'' Louis Cruises said in the statement, released in Cyprus. Spanish news reports said one of the injured was a 62-year-old woman - both of her legs were broken. The captain rerouted the ship to Barcelona, where it docked late on Wednesday night. Police cordoned off the port area, where several ambulances were waiting to evacuate the dead and injured. ''Louis Cruises extends its sincere condolences to the families of the two victims and its full support to the injured passengers, while expressing its deep sorrow for the incident,'' the statement said. The ship was on a 12-day cruise from Genoa to Marseilles, stopping at Tangiers, Casablanca, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Cadiz, Cartagena and Barcelona. It was due to return to Genoa yesterday. The 200-metre-long, 41,000- tonne Louis Majesty has 732 cabins and was carrying 1350 passengers and 580 crew members, a spokesman said. Agence France-Presse
