Two cruise ship workers 'boiled to death' in engine room explosion

An unspeakable tragedy occurred on a cruise ship recently that left the crew and passengers in utter shock and disbelief.

According to the Daily Mail, two cruise ship workers on the Nieuw Amsterdam ship, a ship belonging to Holland America cruise lines, were boiled to death after an explosion in an engine room burned them alive.

The outlet noted:

Named as engineer Joseph Terrado and wiper Wawan Gusnawan by a maritime lawyer, the two were killed by a 'catastrophic explosion' on board the Nieuw Amsterdam ship around 9am Friday.

Reportedly, the captain of the ship announced the tragedy on the ship's announcement speakers, according to cruise passenger Laine Doss.

"He was audibly crying, it was shocking to hear that," Doss said of the ship's captain. "The entire ship turned somber, he asked for a moment of silence."

The catastrophic explosion, combined with a series of mistakes in responding to the accident, caused the deaths of HAL employees Joseph Terrado and Wawan Gusnawan.https://t.co/MzvnUNGI1n@HALcruises Nieuw Amsterdam #cruise ship 🚢🫤#CruiseNews

— James (Jim) Walker (@CruiseLaw) March 25, 2024

Even more horrifying was the reported errors that took place after the explosion. According to reports, the initial explosion released high levels of steam into the engine room.

Before evacuating, ship staffers reportedly closed the water-tight doors and cut off ventilation to the room. However, Terrado and Gusnawan were still inside.

Maritime attorney Jim Walker, of Walker & O'Neill Maritime Lawyers, explained that the two men were not equipped with breathing devices and were not able to manually open the doors to escape the horrifying and deadly situation.

"They were trapped in the space," Walker said. "They apparently suffocated due to the lack of oxygen and hot steam (180 degrees Celsius) which overwhelmed them. Their bodies were located near the closed watertight doors."

The attorney added, "The catastrophic explosion, combined with a series of mistakes in responding to the accident, caused the deaths of HAL employees Joseph Terrado and Wawan Gusnawan."

The Seattle, Washington-based cruise line issued a bland statement in the wake of the tragedy, only indicating that the "incident" is currently under investigation.

The company added, "All of us at Holland America are deeply saddened by this incident and our thoughts and prayers are with our team members' families at this difficult time."

Only time will tell what the investigation uncovers and where the fault lies for the initial explosion that ultimately led to their deaths.