Survivor of Sunken Achille Lauro Criticizes Crew’s Actions in Rescue

As the scorched Achille Lauro sank Friday into the Indian Ocean, a surviving passenger blamed the crew for dropping inflatable rafts on top of a crowded lifeboat, injuring one man who later died.

The victim was one of two elderly passengers who died as a result of the fire on the Italian luxury liner. The 979 passengers and crew who survived were headed for three African and Middle Eastern ports aboard 10 rescue vessels. They abandoned the blazing ship Wednesday.

The Achille Lauro once sailed around the world in 80 days. But it was best-known for a 1985 hijacking by Palestinian terrorists, who killed an elderly Jewish American passenger.

According to passenger Geoffrey Wall, interviewed Friday by Britain’s Sky TV, one man was injured when crew members released inflatable rafts onto the lifeboat, which held about 35 people.

Wall said people gave the injured man mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before a rescue ship arrived about four hours later. “Unfortunately, he died,” Wall said.

It was not immediately clear if the man died because of the injuries.