Employees acquitted in Queen Mary 2 trial

Eight employees of the two companies involved in an accident that killed 15 people on the world’s largest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2, were acquitted of manslaughter charges today.

The company that built the ocean liner, Chantiers de l’Atlantique, and the company that built the walkway, Endel, are also facing separate manslaughter charges, the results of which are not known at this time.

The verdict followed two weeks of evidence in October by families of victims and employees of the companies that built the ship and the walkway.

A gangway collapsed in November 2003 during visitors’ day at the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire in western France weeks before the ship’s first trip.

The verdict at the Saint-Nazaire court follows two weeks of evidence in October.