According to Wikipedia: On 30 November 1994, the Achille Lauro caught fire off the coast of Somalia while en route to South Africa, with 979 passengers and crew on board. At that time, Italian officials said the fire had been caused by a discarded cigarette, but it actually began in the engine room after one of the boilers exploded. Because of a lack of supervision, the fire burned out of control before its discovery. The crew tried to battle the fire for several hours but were unsuccessful. The vessel was abandoned, and during transfer to rescue ships, including USS Halyburton, four died and eight were wounded. Achille Lauro sank two days later on 2 December 1994 and the wreck has not been located.
According to those onsite: There were 998 souls onboard by the time we made a consolidated head count post-rescue. Of those there were a few dozen with minor/medium injuries. No one was "wounded" and the most serious patient, was an American woman, on the cruise recovering from back surgery that was exacerbated by the incident causing sever pain.
Only two confirmed fatalities: One had a heart attack, died and was strapped to the Focsle (later recovered by a Naval SAR Swimmer). The second death occurred when a wheelchair bound, elderly man was placed into a rescue boat, lowered down to the water and had an additional life boat dropped on top of him, killing him instantly. The ships involved included: USS Halyburton, USS Gettysburg, Chevron Tanker "Hawaiian" and a few other tankers in the vicinity.
Official Naval Record
Nov 30: Tasked to render assistance to cruise liner Achille Lauro, on fire of the coast of Somalia
Dec 01: Embarked 47 survivors from Achille Lauro disaster at sea
Dec 04: Arrived at Djibouti to debark
According to those onsite: There were 998 souls onboard by the time we made a consolidated head count post-rescue. Of those there were a few dozen with minor/medium injuries. No one was "wounded" and the most serious patient, was an American woman, on the cruise recovering from back surgery that was exacerbated by the incident causing sever pain.
Only two confirmed fatalities: One had a heart attack, died and was strapped to the Focsle (later recovered by a Naval SAR Swimmer). The second death occurred when a wheelchair bound, elderly man was placed into a rescue boat, lowered down to the water and had an additional life boat dropped on top of him, killing him instantly. The ships involved included: USS Halyburton, USS Gettysburg, Chevron Tanker "Hawaiian" and a few other tankers in the vicinity.
Official Naval Record
Nov 30: Tasked to render assistance to cruise liner Achille Lauro, on fire of the coast of Somalia
Dec 01: Embarked 47 survivors from Achille Lauro disaster at sea
Dec 04: Arrived at Djibouti to debark
