Princess Cruises fights to clear its name over castaway accusations

Princess Cruises has released video footage which, it claims, will clear its name over accusations that it failed to rescue a fishing boat adrift on the Pacific Ocean (see earlier story).

The cruise line came under fire in April when one of the survivors on the boat, Fifty Cent, claimed the incident had been spotted by passengers on the Star Princess and reported to staff, but the boat had failed to stop.

Two of the castaways, Panamanian men, died at sea. The survivor, fisherman Adrian Vasquez, was later rescued after 28 days.

But today Princess Cruises said the new footage proves that the Fifty Cent was not the small boat spotted and photographed by the passengers.

It said the passengers, a group of bird watchers with sophisticated telescopic camera equipment, had actually photographed a markedly different boat.

In addition, Princess claims the captain of the fishing boat that rescued Vasquez has provided a sworn statement confirming that Vasquez gave a detailed account of his ordeal at the time he was rescued, but never mentioned any cruise ship passing him by.

"The story received extensive press coverage with Princess and the ship’s captain widely criticised for not coming to the rescue of the men onboard, two of whom subsequently died," said a statement from Princess Cruises today.

"Princess has been sued six times by the survivor and relatives of fishermen on the adrift boat. The lawsuits claim the cruise ship Star Princess passed within several miles of the Fifty Cent, but failed to rescue them despite three cruise ship passengers spotting them and reporting they saw a boat that might be in distress. The ship’s bridge staff did not see signs of distress and therefore did not stop or notify the ship’s captain."

Princess Cruises has demanded the lawsuits be immediately dismissed and has offered to waive its right to seek recovery of legal costs, citing sympathy for the victims of the Fifty Cent’s ordeal.

"While this remains a tragic story, we are gratified to have scientific confirmation that Star Princess was never in the vicinity of the adrift boat and that the boat photographed by our passengers was not the adrift Fifty Cent," said Alan Buckelew, president and CEO of Princess Cruises.

"Nevertheless, we have used this as a valuable learning opportunity and have strengthened our bridge reporting procedures to ensure that all messages of concern from passengers or crew are carefully evaluated by our senior bridge officers."

by Bev Fearis