GANGWAY COLLAPSES IN PANAMA

Oh no no no no.................I am merely a student. You sir are the master.

Outstanding technical analysis. As to who was actually responsible...that will be for the insurance co's lawyers to figure out. If you would like the position of cynic-in-chief, I yield...subject to change without notice..heheheh

OK, first, to respond to past posts.

A. Not apologizing, just trying to make it clear that although I possess cynicism, I also possess sympathy.

B. Yes, it was Walter Cronkite.

C. Yes Y47, that was cynical (and true) enough, although I must point out that you have been even more cynical at times.

Here's something interesting that supposedly came from one of the witnesses.

“. . . The dock is new, and not completely finished. Main gangway was not ready, so this one was used instead. In the morning, they restricted it to two passengers at a time to get off the ship, and it took hours for people to get off for their excursions, and outings. In the afternoon, for re-boarding the ship, they didn’t restrict the number of passengers on the gangway at the same time — and you see the result.”

Sounds like the port authorities and/or the ships crew knew it wasn't the most "robust" of gangway designs. Also, check out this photo.

It appears to me that gangway was connected to Deck 3. That's a long distance to traverse. Also, although the photos aren't close enough to tell for sure, but it looks to me like the gangway is a "telescoping" type, where the part that's flat on the ground telescopes over the part that's still hanging off the ship. I have some experience with that type of mechanism (loading dock products). Equipment such as that usually have locking pins to hold the telescoping section in place and not allowing it to extend too far out as to not provide enough support for the fixed section to sustain. I surmise that either the locking pins weren't in place, thus allowing the sliding section to extend out past the point of failure (at high tide?), or that the locking pins failed.

True! That's part of the equation. I'm not sure I buy into it, but it sounds like a minor factor for the incident.

ooooooook...cept ships been going up n down with tides while docked with gangways since dirt...eventually someone will get officially blamed....someone with deep pockets..kaff kaff....cynical enough for ya AB??

Discussion on Shipmate, suggests that perhaps the gangway is as set up during low tide and when the tide came in, the angle became too steep.

ooooooh boy.......(shakes head)

Looks to me like the gangway had structural issues and gave way.... should we call it the gaveway.

Can't tell for sure by looking at the pic who might be responsible. Incredible no one was actually killed, and who knows just how serious the injuries were. Think $$$. And AB, stop apologizing for being cynical..it usually gets you closer to the "truth" than any other kind of thinking...who said "and thats the way it is"..? Cronkite??

Thanks for sharing. I certainly hope the injuries were minimal.