€17.2 MILLION in compensation after cruise ship worker crushes her hand in Spain

A ROYAL CARIBBEAN cruise ship worker has won a €17.2 million payout after her hand was crushed during a fire safety drill in Spain.

Marketing and revenue officer, Lisa Spearman suffered permanent injuries when a watertight sliding door slammed into her as she leapt to help a nurse who had fallen during the exercise.

The New Zealander was left with chronic pain syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder, and remains unable to move her fingers properly after the accident, which happened on board the US operator’s Voyager of the Seas while it was docked in Barcelona.

The door was in the process of being locked for the drill when the ship’s nurse tried to open it with a handle while the victim was on the other side.

And when the medic fell Spearman grabbed one of the handles to try and keep the door open.

But it slid back into the wall, trapping her hand between the handle and frame, before sliding in and out three more times, breaking two of her fingers.

She won the giant settlement after her lawyers argued that the vessel’s staff had not been trained how to use the doors properly.

They added that the firm had sent Spearman to a Spanish doctor who splinted her fingers in the wrong position.

She was later sacked and in 2016 sued for negligence, failure to provide proper medical care, and constructive dismissal.

A court found Royal Caribbean guilty but the operator intends to appeal the decision, according to reports.