Paris, Nov 16: It's meant to be a ship of dreams, a USD 800 million luxury liner where elegant passengers glide across ballroom floors, pick among the caviar or tan themselves on the high seas. But the ship was the scene of a horrifying accident yesterday, when a gangway full of shipworkers and their families collapsed, killing at least 13 of them and injuring dozens of others.
The tragedy befell what had been promoted as the mother of all oceanliners even before its maiden voyage, scheduled for January from Britain to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
The Queen Mary 2 is the world's largest passenger ship, at 345 meters in length, and 72 meters high, as tall as a 21-story building. It weighs in at a hefty 150,000 tons.
The numbers don't do justice to the impressive size of the behemoth. Seen from hundreds of meters away, the ship looks like a massive floating apartment complex, its endless hull stretching into the distance.
Calling the ship extravagant is an understatement. It features a planetarium, 22 elevators and the world's biggest floating library. It is chock full of restaurants and bars and sports facilities.
Just before the ship's first test run on the open water in September, officials gave reporters a tour of the still-unfinished innards. While much of the inside was still under construction, the ship's winding hallways and sprawling spaces for theaters and restaurants hinted at the opulence that would greet passengers. Bureau Report