MS Deutschland-World Odyssey accidents and incidents

15 January 2012Ship Grounding

On January 15, 2012, in South America, the ship ran aground while transiting Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego Archipelago). No injuries were reported.

18 February 2011Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

On February 18, 2011, a 56-year-old male passenger (of German origin) sustained minor head injuries ashore, after being hit by a bus in Wellington New Zealand. The incident occurred at ~4:30 pm, while the man was crossing Lambton Quay together with fellow tourists. According to witnesses, he flew ~5 m / 16 ft through the air before hitting his head on the road. Although bleeding, his companions insisted that an ambulance shouldn’t be called. So they embarked on the bus bound for the cruise terminal, and the man was treated at the ship’s infirmary.

23 May 2010Fire Accident

On May 23, 2010, at ~12:30 pm, while docked in call port Eidfjord Norway, the ship experienced an engine room fire accident. All the 364 cruise passengers and most of the 243 crew were evacuated. The fire was quickly contained and permanently cleaned by 5 pm.

The accident occurred at the end of a Norwegian Fjords itinerary with next scheduled port Hamburg. However, the cruise was officially cancelled and all passengers were flown to Hamburg. The ship was towed by a tugboat to Bergen (for damage assessment) then to Hamburg for repairs (at the Blohm+Voss shipyard), where it remained docked for 30 days.

Fire damages were estimated at EUR 2 million and paid by the ship’s insurance. The accident also resulted in 3 scheduled itineraries being cancelled. The vessel re-entered service on July 3, 2010, restarting its itinerary program from homeport Hamburg.

25 July 2000Crew / Passenger Deaths

On July 25, 2000, a jet airliner Concorde F-BTSC was chartered by Peter Deilmann Cruises for a Transatlantic crossing. The aircraft carried booked on MS Deutschland passengers from Paris to New York (Charles de Gaulle Airport to JFK International Airport). This charter (known as “Air France Flight 4590”) ended tragically.

On takeoff, the aircraft crashed into a hotel building near the airport, killing all its 100 passengers (96 of German origin, 2 from Denmark, 1 Austrian, 1 American) and the 9 crew (1 German, 8 French), plus 4 people on the ground.

Some 5 min before the Concorde plane, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 jet airliner took off from the same runway, bound for Newark NJ. The operated by Continental Airlines DC-10 lost a titanium alloy wear strip (part of its engine 3’s cowl door). The metal piece had dimensions: length 43,5 cm / 17″, width 3,4 cm / 1,3″ and thickness 1,4 mm / 0,6″. During the Concorde plane’s takeoff, this metal debris was run over, cutting and rupturing one of the tyres (on wheel 2). A large piece of tyre debris (weight 4,5 kg / 10 pounds) hit the aircraft’s left wing underside at speed of ~500 kph / 310 mph. The strike sent out a shock wave that ruptured fuel tank No 5 (located inside the wing). The leaking fuel was ignited through contact with the engine’s hot parts. At the ignition point, engines 1 and 2 surged and lost all power. Engine 1 recovered in few seconds but was shut down by the Flight Engineer when a large flame developed.

The fire was noticed by a traffic controller before the plane was airborne, but with only 2 km of runway left and speed of ~330 kph / 200 mph, the only plausible option was to take off. To abort safely, the plane would’ve needed at least 3 km / 2 ml of runway ahead.

The Concorde continued the takeoff with the remaining 3 engines. The lowered power output, plus the failure to retract landing gear (an open bay door) prevented the aircraft to gain enough speed. Unable to accelerate, it maintained a speed of 370 kph / 230 mph at altitude 60 m / 200 ft. The left wing (damaged by the fire) started to melt and disintegrate. Engine 1 surged again, this time failing to recover. The asymmetric power thrust caused the right wing to lift, banking the plane to over 100 degrees to the port side. The power of engines 3 and 4 was reduced in an attempt to level the plane. However, due to the falling speed, the crew lost control. The aircraft crashed into a building, leaving no survivors.

The official accident investigation report (issued by BEA) revealed that the aircraft was overloaded by 810 kg (1786 pounds) above its max takeoff weight. When the Concorde was loaded, its centre of gravity was aft of the takeoff limit, and fuel tank No 5 (in the port side wing) was left 94% full. The aircraft’s structural damages caused by the fire were so severe that even with all engines operating normally the crash would’ve been inevitable.

(law news) in a lengthy court trial in Paris France (Feb to Dec 2010) the DC-10’s owner Continental Airlines was found responsible for the disaster and ordered to pay 70% of all compensation claims. The Air France company paid EUR 1 million to each of the victims’ families.

The plane’s namesake (Costa Concordia) sank in 2012 near Giglio island Italy. This disastrous accident resulted in 32 drowned passengers and huge financial losses (over USD 800 million) for the shipowner Carnival Corporation. The Concordia ship wreckage was sold for scrap in 2015.