Five crew killed in cruise ship safety drill

Five crew members died in an emergency drill on a cruise ship in the Canary Islands on Sunday, police said.

Cables snapped on a lifeboat and it plunged 20 metres (65 feet) to the ocean and fell upside down, killing the five and injuring three others aboard, during the mock rescue exercise on the Thomson Majesty, operated by British travel group TUI Travel . It was in the port of La Palma.

TUI, Europe's largest tour operator, did not respond immediately to telephone calls or email requests for comment.

Three of the dead were Indonesians. The other dead were a Filipino and a Ghanaian.

The Thomson Majesty, with five restaurants and two swimming pools, cruises to the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, according to Thomson's website.