Cruise company Royal Caribbean is launching legal action in Australia in a bid to stop White Island/Whakaari victims from suing it in Miami, where the company’s headquarters are.
Royal Caribbean was accused of failing in its duty to keep passengers safe in litigation in Florida by US couple Ivy and Paul Reed, who were severely burned in the volcano a year ago, and Australians Marie and Stephanie Browitt, who lost family in the tragedy, the Guardian reports.
The eruption on 9 December 2019 killed 22 people who had been cruising on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas, including Marie Browitt’s husband, Paul, and daughter, Krystal.
Royal Caribbean applied to Australia’s federal court to prohibit the families from progressing with their US lawsuits.
The cruise company claimed a clause in the ticket contract governing the voyage means disputes can only be heard in courts in New South Wales, Australia.
In a statement to 1 NEWS, Royal Carribean said: "Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy, however we do not comment on pending litigation."
The litigation accused the cruise line of failing its duty by allowing a day trip to White Island to go ahead despite White Island’s volcanic activity level increasing in the weeks prior to the eruption.
The level increased to level 2, the highest before an eruption, and the Browitts allege that during the tour a guide told Krystal it was “nearing level 3”, an eruption.
The Reeds and the Browitts have filed separate lawsuits in the US seeking damages from Royal Caribbean for the disaster.
The Browitts alleged that the cruise company knew or should have known that Whakaari was dangerous but sold tickets regardless.
“The sale of any tickets to the island was outrageous conduct, and nothing short of selling a ticket to play Russian roulette,” the Browitts alleged.
“This conduct was indecently cavalier, outside the bounds of decency and so reckless that it should not be tolerated in civilised society.”
In the Reeds’ lawsuit, Ivy recalls that “her group resembled people walking away from the fallen Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City on September 11, 2001, except that the persons on White Island that day were horribly burned, in addition to being covered by white ash”.
The Reeds also said they were “engulfed by a boiling cloud of acid gas, rock and ash”.
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