More than a month after an accident occurred during a cruise ship safety drill on Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.’s Norwegian Breakaway in Bermuda, a second crew member involved in the accident lost his life.

Crew member Ben Buenaventura, a Filipino national, who was in the intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital since the incident, succumbed to his mortal injuries in late August. The attorneys for Buenaventura’s family, who lodged a formal complaint against Norwegian Cruise Line, announced the news last Wednesday, September 21.

Buenaventura was one among four crew members who were hurt when a lifeboat broke from its tethering and plummeted into the water during the ship’s safety drills. The first victim of the accident, 41-year-old Filipino crewman Diogenes Carpio, died at the scene.

Louis A. Vucci P.A. is committed to providing dedicated and personal legal representation to people who sustain injuries on cruise ships. Speak with a qualified member of our legal team today by calling our offices at (786) 375-0344 to discuss your case.

On Saturday, July 16, a cruise ship owned by the Iquito, Peru-based Aqua Expeditions exploded on the port of Iquitos, causing the death of seven crewmen and injuring 13 other individuals.

According to preliminary investigations, the tourist boat was being refueled near the banks of the River Itaya in the province of Loreto when the ship exploded, causing it to partially sink. The crewmen involved in the accident were doing maintenance cleanups at the time of the accident. Officials said a dive team from the Navy is conducting recovery efforts to obtain the bodies of five crewmen who were trapped under the vessel. Aqua Expeditions officials said that even though the explosion happened when the ship was refueling, they were refueling in a proper manner and following all safety guidelines while doing so.

Louis A. Vucci, P.A. sees the damage done by cruise ships due to negligence or pure accident. Our thoughts and condolences are with the families and friends of the victims in this accident.

The spouse of a man who went overboard and is now presumed dead a Royal Caribbean cruise ship is fighting with the company about the circumstances of his death.

Bernardo Elbaz’s fall was captured in a chilling video, after he had apparently fallen from the seventh deck of the ship onto a lifeboat one deck below. The video shows him clinging to a metal support beam as other passengers watched and screamed until he eventually lost his grip and falls overboard.

Elbaz’s husband, Erik Elbaz, insists that Bernardo had jumped to his death because of how devastated and upset he was for repeatedly being told anti-gay slurs by crew members. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office has ruled the death a suicide, citing a reported domestic disturbance on board.

Erik Elbaz’s lawyer, Michael Winkleman, asserts that the man didn’t jump when he went overboard, and that the video proves that both of Bernardo Elbaz’s falls were results of failures by Royal Caribbean staff.

Royal Caribbean disputed this assertion in a statement that said, “The attorney’s disproven claims that our security staff had any culpability in this tragedy are shameful and offensive.”