REPORT ON SHIP ELEVATOR TRAGEDY

Posted on 04/22/2016 | About Liguria, Italy

Last December disturbing images were posted online, showing blood dripping down elevator doors on the Carnival Ecstasy. Details in a police report have now been released identifying the cause of death of a cruise ship chief electrician who was killed in the elevator shaft while doing a routine maintenance check.

Jose Sandoval Opazo, 66, of Liguria, Italy, was an electrician aboard the Carnival Ecstasy and is said to have disabled the safety system to do maintenance work. 

According to a report released this week by Miami-Dade police Opazo had been on top of the elevator when it suddenly moved from the ship's sixth level to the ninth. Opazo apparently fell and was crushed against the wall of the elevator shaft. 

Carnival investigator John Butchko told police that crew members found a jumper cable on the elevators' override system, a common practice used by electricians to override safety systems, he said. They also found a screwdriver that may have been used to prop open the elevator doors. 

The theory is that Opazo was doing maintenance work because there was no report of a problem with the elevator, nor was a work order found. 

Butchko found no evidence of tampering, negating any suggestion of wrong-doing. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration chose not to investigate because the death occurred in international waters.