An enormous ship owned by the estate of billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen toppled over Wednesday from strong winds in a Scottish dry dock, sending 15 people to the hospital.
Twenty-five people were injured when the 250-foot ship tipped over from its holding around 8:30 a.m. at Imperial Dock in Leith, Edinburgh, the Scottish Ambulance Service said.
Five ambulances, an air ambulance and three trauma teams responded to the dock, eventually bringing 15 people to hospitals, the Telegraph reported.
Officials haven’t disclosed their conditions. An extra 10 people were treated for injuries on the dock.
Pictures shared on social media show the colossal ship leaning at a 45-degree angle.
The research vessel owned by Allen’s estate had previously been utilized in deep-water searches for shipwrecks and war graves at sea but was put into long-term moorage in 2020 because of “operation challenges” throughout the Covid pandemic.
Allen co-founded Microsoft Corporation together with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975. He was ranked the forty fourth wealthiest person on the earth with a net price of $20.3 billion just before he died in 2018 on the age of 65.
The billionaire died in consequence of septic shock three weeks after announcing the return of his non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a variety of cancer that had been in remission for a few decade.
His ship, named Tatoosh, is taken into account to be the sixtieth largest superyacht on the earth. At one point Allen owned a second mega yacht, called Octopus, which was the twentieth largest ship on the earth.
The coast guard also arrived on the docks to offer assistance following the shocking incident. Local politicians in Leith shared their good wishes for those injured within the incident on social media while urging others to avoid the world.
“Emergency services are responding to a significant incident at Leith docks — a ship has been dislodged from its holding in strong winds. Terrifying for those on board, my thoughts are with those that’ve been injured & hope everyone recovers quickly,” Leith councilor Adam McVey wrote on Twitter.
City of Edinburgh Council Leader Cammy Day said he was “deeply concerned” by the incident and wished those injured a speedy recovery.
The National Health Service Lothian urged people to avoid the hospital if possible because of an influx of patients being sent from the docks.
“We’re on standby to receive a lot of patients on the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh’s A&E department following a significant incident on the Imperial Docks in Leith,” Jacquie Campbell, chief officer of acute services at NHS Lothian said in a press release.
“Now we have been reviewing the present capability at RIE, with support from other sites, to organize to accommodate these patients,” Campbell said.
“Given the expected pressure on the positioning, we urge people to not attend A&E on the RIE unless it’s an emergency.”
