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COPYRIGHT 2003 The Miami Herald
Byline: Matthew I. Pinzur, Richard Brand and Tere Figueras
MIAMI _ A boiler room explosion aboard the SS Norway just 10 days after its annual inspection killed four crew members and injured more than a dozen others Sunday morning at the Port of Miami-Dade at the end of a weeklong Caribbean cruise for more than 2,100 passengers.
Police and Coast Guard officials quickly and firmly dismissed fears of a terrorist connection to the blast, and a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said the agency was not involved in the investigation.
"There is absolutely no indication whatsoever of any criminal activity, no evidence of sabotage," Miami-Dade Police Director Carlos Alvarez said. "We have what appears to be a very tragic accident, and that's how we are dealing with it."
Many of the passengers of the Norwegian Cruise Line ship were shocked awake by the 6:37 a.m. explosion, but none was hurt.
The blast tossed crew members overboard, buckled doors and flooded the engine room with a blast of scorching pressurized steam. The cruise line could not provide details about the Norway's engine Sunday, but similar ships use steam as hot as 900 degrees.
"It will literally cook you right where...
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