An incident aboard a HAL-Holland America cruise ship resulted in the loss of two crew members' lives.
A joint statement from HAL and the Royal Bahamas Police Force/RBPF confirmed the occurrence, which took place on Friday at the private island Half Moon Cay, owned by HAL's parent company Carnival Corporation.
According to RBPF, preliminary reports indicated that sometime ~9:30 am, the Captain had been alerted via its automatic fire alarm system to a malfunction in Nieuw Amsterdam's engine room. Subsequently, the ship's fire response team was activated, and on arrival at the engine room, they encountered "sweltering condensation as a result of a steam leak, which was immediately rectified."
“A check was made for the crew members; however, they were found unresponsive with severe burns. Both victims were examined by the District Medical Doctor and subsequently pronounced dead.”
HAL extended condolences to the families of the deceased crew members, whose identities were not disclosed.
Nieuw Amsterdam is currently sailing a week-long Eastern Caribbean roundtrip voyage from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Saturday.
For more Nieuw Amsterdam incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.