Fatal accident to a crew member on board the Bermuda registered passenger vessel Arvia

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Accident Investigation Report 20/2026

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Summary

At about 0552 on 26 October 2025, a crew member on board the Bermuda registered passenger vessel Arvia was fatally injured while inspecting a passenger lift. The vessel was on passage from Southampton, England, to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

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MAIB investigation report 20-2026: Arvia

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MAIB investigation report 20-2026: Arvia

ACCIDENT REPORT ACCIDENT REPORT Report on the investigation of the fatal accident to a crew member on board the Bermuda registered passenger vessel Arvia while on passage from Southampton, England, to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain on 26 October 2025 VERY SERIOUS MARINE CASUALTY REPORT NO 20/2026 OCTOBER 2026 Extract from The Bermuda Merchant Shipping (Accident Reporting and Investigation) Regulations 2021 – Regulation 5: The sole objective of a safety investigation into an accident under these Regulations shall be the prevention of future accidents through the ascertainment of its causes and circumstances. It shall not be the purpose of such an investigation, to determine liability nor, except so far as is necessary to achieve its objective, to apportion blame. NOTE This report is not written with litigation in mind and, pursuant to Regulation 14(13), shall be inadmissible in any judicial proceedings whose purpose, or one of whose purposes is to attribute or apportion liability or blame. © Crown copyright, 2026 You may re-use this document/publication (not including departmental or agency logos) free of charge in any format or medium. You must re-use it accurately and not in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and you must give the title of the source publication. Where we have identified any third party copyright material you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. All MAIB publications can be found on our website: www.gov.uk/maib For all enquiries: Marine Accident Investigation Branch First Floor, Spring Place 105 Commercial Road Southampton SO15 1GH United Kingdom Email: iso@maib.gov.uk Telephone: +44 (0)23 8039 5500 Press enquiries during office hours: +44 (0)19 3244 0015 Press enquiries out of hours: +44 (0)30 0777 7878 CONTENTS GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS SYNOPSIS 1 SECTION 1 – FACTUAL INFORMATION 2 1.1 Particulars of Arvia and accident 2 1.2 Background 3 1.3 Narrative 3 1.3.1 Initial inspection and repairs 3 1.3.2 Follow-up repair work and testing 6 1.3.3 Inspection and testing leading up to accident 6 1.4 Arvia8 1.4.1 General 8 1.4.2 Crew 8 1.4.3 Electro-technical team 9 1.4.4 The deceased 9 1.5 Arvia passenger lifts 9 1.5.1 Lift interlocks 9 1.5.2 Release key 10 1.5.3 Priority mode 10 1.5.4 Inspection mode and emergency stop controls 10 1.5.5 Emergency rescue operation 10 1.5.6 Manual rescue operation 10 1.5.7 Shaft ladder 12 1.6 Procedures 13 1.6.1 Carnival Corporation procedures 13 1.6.2 Carnival UK procedures 13 1.6.3 Permit to work 14 1.6.4 Job safety review 14 1.6.5 Lock-out/tag-out 15 1.6.6 Working at height 15 1.6.7 Manufacturer’s safety documentation 15 1.7 Regulations 16 1.7.1 Design approval 16 1.7.2 Safety management 16 1.7.3 Training 16 1.7.4 Maintenance and working at height 16 1.8 Previous/similar accidents 17 1.8.1 British Mallard – crew member fatality 17 1.8.2 MSC Colombia – crew member fatality 17 1.8.3 Carnival Ecstasy – crew member fatality 17 SECTION 2 – ANALYSIS 18 2.1 Aim 18 2.2 Overview 18 2.3 The accident 18 2.4 Communication and planning 18 2.5 Control of lift movement 19 2.6 Safety management 19 2.7 Training 20 2.8 Equipment failure 21 SECTION 3 – CONCLUSIONS 22 3.1 Safety issues directly contributing to the accident that have been addressed or resulted in recommendations 22 3.2 Safety issues not directly contributing to the accident that have been addressed or resulted in recommendations 22 SECTION 4 – ACTION TAKEN 23 4.1 Actions taken by other organisations 23 SECTION 5 – RECOMMENDATIONS 24 FIGURES Figure 1: Passenger lift 14 location Figure 2: Lift car top Figure 3: View looking up lift shaft from lift car Figure 4: Lift movement Figure 5: Door release mechanism Figure 6: Lift shaft ladder viewed from deck 14 GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 1ETO - first electro-technical officer 3ETO - third electro-technical officer AET - assistant electrical technician Carnival Corporation - Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc ERO - emergency rescue operation ET - electrical technician JSR - job safety review LOTO - lock-out/tag-out MAIB - Marine Accident Investigation Branch MRO - manual rescue operation OEM - original equipment manufacturer OHS - occupational health and safety PL - passenger lift PTW - permit to work REG - Red Ensign Group SETO - staff electro-technical officer SMS - safety management system UTC - universal time coordinated TIMES: all times used in this report are ship’s time unless otherwise stated. Ship’s time was universal coordinated time (UTC) +1 until 0200 on 26 October 2025, when ship’s time was retarded to UTC. 1 SYNOPSIS At about 0552 on 26 October 2025, a crew member on board the Bermuda registered passenger vessel Arvia was fatally injured while inspecting a passenger lift following overnight repairs. Arvia was on passage from Southampton, UK, to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. The lift had been returned to normal operation for testing before the inspection and moved in response to a stored call signal while the crew member was inside the lift shaft. The investigation found that the inspection was not supported by a clearly communicated and mutually understood plan. Positive control of the lift had not been established before the crew member entered the lift shaft, and the work relied on self-resetting door interlocks that did not provide an effective barrier against lift movement. Following the accident Arvia’s managers, Carnival UK Ltd, has taken action to reinforce lift maintenance procedures, communication arrangements and training requirements across its fleet. A recommendation has been made to Carnival UK Ltd to review the use of self-resetting lift door interlocks as a safety barrier during lift maintenance and inspection. Spain UK 2 SECTION 1 – FACTUAL INFORMATION 1.1 PARTICULARS OF ARVIA AND ACCIDENT VESSEL PARTICULARS Vessel’s name Arvia Flag Bermuda Classification society Lloyd’s Register IMO number 9849693 Type Passenger ship Registered owner Carnival plc 1 Manager(s) Carnival plc Year of build 2022 Construction Steel Length overall 344.5m Registered length 320.1m Gross tonnage 185,581 Minimum safe manning 49 Authorised cargo 6,600 passengers VOYAGE PARTICULARS Port of departure Southampton, England Port of arrival Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands (intended, diverted to A Coruña, Spain) Type of voyage Cruise Cargo information 5,299 passengers Manning 1,681 crew MARINE CASUALTY INFORMATION Date and time 26 October 2025 at 0552 Type of marine casualty or incidentVery Serious Marine Casualty Location of incident 75nm north-west of Cape Finisterre, Spain Place on board Passenger lift 14 in the lift shaft between decks 12 and 14 Injuries/fatalities 1 fatality Damage/environmental impact Minor damage to passenger lift 14 Ship operation On passage Voyage segment Mid-water External & internal environmentNortherly winds, force 5; slight to moderate seas with short low swell; dry; good visibility Persons on board 6,980 1 Carnival plc changed its name to Carnival UK Ltd on 21 May 2026. 3 1.2 BACKGROUND The investigation into the accident was conducted by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) on behalf of the Bermuda Ship Registry. Bermuda is a member of the Red Ensign Group (REG) and the investigation was completed in accordance with the memorandum of understanding between the MAIB and the REG member administrations. 1.3 NARRATIVE On 21 October 2025, the Bermuda registered passenger vessel Arvia departed Cádiz, Spain, on passage to Southampton, England. During the voyage, the vessel encountered rough seas with conditions reaching Beaufort force 12. To reduce the r

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