PASSENGERS EVACUATE LUXURY LINER
NEWPORT, R.I.
Passengers from the Queen Elizabeth 2 took buses, trains, and a ferry home Saturday as investigators tried to learn what caused the luxury liner to run aground just off the southeastern Massachusetts coast.
The ship got stuck on an underwater ledge about 10 miles from Buzzards Bay late Friday as it returned to New York City from a five-day cruise to Nova Scotia. None of the 1,815 passengers or 1,000 crew members was hurt.
Cmdr. Robert L. Skewes of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office declined to comment Saturday on a possible cause, saying the case was under investigation.
Ron Santangelo, a spokesman for the Cunard shipping line, which operates the vessel, said the ship's captain had turned control of it over to a coastal pilot, who steered it onto the shelf.