Cruise ship: 8-metre swells not exceptional, says expert

The luxury cruise ship hit by huge waves off the Mediterranean coast of Spain was in heavy seas where eight-metre (26-foot) waves were to be expected, an expert from the French national weather agency said today.

"The accident happened at 2:15 pm near a Spanish weather buoy near Cap de Begur [north of Barcelona]. The waves measured about five meters on average at 2:00 pm," said Jean-Michel Lefevre.

"Under those conditions we would expect eight-meter waves every 15 minutes," he told AFP by telephone.

The owners of the ship, the MV Louis Majesty, have said it was hit by a series of three "unpredictable" eight-meter swells that left two people dead and at least one seriously injured.

The height of the waves, which shattered plate-glass windows in a common room at the front of the ship, could not yet be determined with accuracy, said Lefevre.

It has been widely speculated that the vessel was struck by so-called "rogue waves", huge and unpredictable swells that are at least double the average of prevailing seas, even in a storm.

"The conditions were favourable to the formation of waves higher than normal," he added.

At the time of the incident the ship was in an area of cross-currents coming from different directions, he said.

"There were two dominant wave movements, one from the north-east pushed by a northeasterly wind, and one that had been created earlier by a depression" that was at right-angles from the first, he explained.

It might have been difficult for the ship to remain stable under those conditions, he said.

More generally, the weather conditions off the Costa Brava in Spain were not exceptional for the season.

"These sea conditions are common for this time of year. Waves of five or six metres are usually not a problem for a ship of this size," he said.