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MSC launch clouded by cruise fatality
MSC Cruises has finalised the order for a new 3,274 flagship vessel. However the announcement has been clouded by news of an unrelated incident in which one of its passengers was killed and another critically injured after the gangway on the MSC Splendida collapsed at the Italian port of Genoa.
Dozens of other passengers watched horrified as the metal walkway crashed more than 30ft into the sea taking a 65-year old-Spanish woman and her husband with it. The victim was named as Maria Mercedes Bonastre, from Barcelona, while the injured man was revealed to be Fausto Del Charro Arraza, 65.
Crew members and dock workers jumped into the water to try and rescue the two passengers but the woman was declared dead at the scene after being pulled aboard by a coastguard launch. Her husband suffered severe head injuries.
The couple were embarking on a seven-night Mediterranean cruise taking in Marseilles, Barcelona, Tunis, Malta, Messina and Civitavecchia.
Investigating magistrate Cristina Camaiori said that she was looking into a possible charge of culpable homicide following the tragedy.
120 Maltese were among the passengers on board the cruise that sails in to the Grand Harbour tomorrow.
