"The accident happened [Wednesday] 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 2pm," 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.

"…It was a monster wave..."

Terrified passengers told Thursday how three giant rogue waves smashed through the front windows of a Mediterranean cruise ship killing two people and causing mass panic on the liner.

The eight-metre waves injured another 14 people, including one woman in "very serious condition" in hospital. Most of the 1300 tourists were being repatriated from the MV Louis Majesty to their home countries on Thursday.

"It was a monster wave... it smashed all the windows. Everything happened so quickly," German passenger Margrit Woffe-Ternes told Spanish public television.

Images filmed by a passenger showed screaming people fleeing as a wall of water crashed through a window and then swept into a lounge area, knocking over furniture. The film was shown by Spanish television.

"It was a tragic moment, water was coming in from all sides and the boat shook," Italian passenger Ervico Curtis told the website of daily newspaper El Pais.

"We didn't know what was happening, if there were dead or injured, only that we were going back to Barcelona," another Italian passenger identified as Franco told Spanish public television.

One German and one Italian passenger were killed in the accident on Wednesday evening as the ship was off the coast of Spain, the owners, Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Line, said.

"I am very happy to be going home now"

One 64-year-old woman, was in "very serious" condition, a spokeswoman at Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron Hospital said. Spanish media said the woman's legs were broken in the accident. A 59-year-old man was also hospitalised with multiple injuries.

The 200-metre long ship was on a 12-day cruise of the western Mediterranean with 1350 passengers and 580 crew when it was hit.

It docked in Barcelona late Wednesday to evacuate the dead and injured, start repatriating passengers and carry out repairs.

"I wasn't scared but I am very happy to be going home now," German passenger Brigitte Himmelhan, who was in the ship's theatre when the waves hit, told El Pais.

The company said in a statement that the passengers were killed when the freak waves smashed windows in a public area at the front of the ship.

Louis Cruise spokesman Michalis Maratheftis said there would be no investigation.

"This was a natural, unforeseen and unpredictable phenomenon because we are talking about three big waves, higher than eight metres, striking the vessel," he told AFP in Cyprus.

"This is not an incident which we could have prevented, therefore there will be no investigation.

"All passengers are on their way back to their respective countries as we speak. We have made all the necessary arrangements for all of the passengers to be safely transported back to their countries," Maratheftis said.

The Maltese-flagged ship was to remain in Barcelona for repairs before sailing back to the Italian port of Genoa where normal operations would resume on March 12.

AFP

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