TWO Caribbean cruise workers were boiled to death after a catastrophic steam pipe explosion saw them trapped in a hellish engine room.
Engineer Joseph Terrado and wiper Wawan Gusnawan were onboard the Holland America vessel which was anchored at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.
The ship set sail out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 16 for a seven-night trip.
After returning to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, March 23, the ship embarked on its next voyage with the next call scheduled at Ocho Rios, Jamaica on March 26.
But at around 9am on Friday, March 22, a steam compensator exploded in the engine room of the Nieuw Amsterdam ship.
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The blast sent steam into the engine room, triggering an alarm.
Staff then reportedly closed the water-tight doors and turned off the ventilation before evacuating, but two crew members were still inside.
Passenger Laine Doss said the captain broke the news over the ship's announcement speakers.
She told ABC News: "He was audibly crying, it was shocking to hear that.
"The entire ship turned somber, he asked for a moment of silence."
Maritime attorney Jim Walker, of Walker & O'Neill Maritime Lawyers, claims Terrado and Gusnawan were not equipped with breathing devices and could not manually open the hydraulic doors.
He said: "They were trapped in the space."
Walker added the duo was "installing filters when a steam compensator unrelated to their duties exploded."
He said the malfunctioning piece of equipment was the thermal expansion joint within the compensator.
"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 water tight doors.
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"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," Walker said.
Holland America that the accident occurred "in an engineering space on board" when the boat was anchored at Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.
Authorities were notified and the cause of the accident is being investigated, the cruise line said.
The Seattle-based cruise company told The Sun in a statement: "Safety is always our top priority, and we are working to understand what, if anything, can be learned from this tragic accident.
"All systems on board Nieuw Amsterdam have since been reviewed and determined to be fully operable by independent surveyors of the Dutch government and confirmed by the US Coast Guard.
"All of us at Holland America Line are deeply saddened by this event.
"We’ve been in contact with the families of both team members and are offering our support to them and to all of our crew at this difficult time."
The Sun has asked Holland America for a comment on Walker's claims.
