Maltese passengers on the Harmony of the Seas cruise ship only learnt about the death of a crew member during a lifeboat accident when relatives called in a panic upon hearing the news.

Speaking to this newspaper while still stranded in the port city of Marseille, France, yesterday, Lara Mangion said the passengers were completely oblivious to what had happened and did not even realise anything out of the ordinary was going on

A 42-year-old Filipino man died and four other crew members were injured, two seriously, when a lifeboat became detached from the fifth deck and plunged 10 metres into the sea during a safety drill.

According to reports, five members of the ship’s navigation crew were on the lifeboat.

“The passengers weren’t involved, because the exercise was for crew members only. Ambulances arrived after it happened when we were told that a lifeboat had detached from Deck 5 during the drill,” Ms Mangion said.

She said the captain made the announcement about the death shortly after relatives had called from Malta when hearing the news on national media. The captain also informed the passengers that the cruise ship would not be sailing towards La Spezia, the next port of call according to the cruise itinerary.

After spending 24 hours in Marseille, Mr Mangion said the cruise ship had now set sail for Civitavecchia.

*Additional reporting by Jacob Borg