Iceberg collapses, injuring five at Titanic Museum

Looks like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic isn’t finished wreaking havoc just yet.

In an unfortunately on-theme accident, an ice wall at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Tennessee collapsed earlier this month, sending three visitors to hospital, according to a post on the attraction’s Facebook page.

A police report seen by local TV station WVLT8, said two others were injured but did not need medical attention.

Two of the iceberg’s latest victims were sent to the LeConte Medical Centre with injuries to the arm and head, and a 44-year-old woman visiting from Florida was taken to the University of Tennessee with a head injury, the station reported.

The ice wall was about 4.6 by 8.5 metres and represented the iceberg that the “unsinkable” Titanic hit in 1912.

“Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all who were affected, including the first-responders,” said the post, which was signed off by the museum’s owners Mary Kellogg Joslyn and John Joslyn.

“Our maintenance professionals are in the process of re-evaluating our quality and safety guidelines and we’ll make all modifications, as necessary, to proactively ensure the well-being of all who experience Titanic Museum Attraction.”

The museum was closed after the iceberg collapsed, but reopened to ticketed visitors the next day once the debris was cleared and the affected area was blocked off.

The owners said it would take at least four weeks to regrow the iceberg which was made using a water filtration system.

Visitors to the museum, or “passengers” as they call them, get to experience what life would have been like on the famous ship, according to the Titanic Museum Attraction’s website.

Each “passenger” is given a boarding pass with the name of an actual passenger or crew member before touring the museum’s $6.3 million collection of artifacts.

It also boasts a $1.4 million replica of the Titanic’s grand staircase and the opportunity to “touch an iceberg”, shovel coal in the ship’s boiler room, sit in an actual-sized lifeboat and hear true stories from the doomed ship’s journey.

Featured image source: Titanic Museum Attraction

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