A top executive of the Tung family-owned Orient Overseas Container Line has died from injuries he sustained during a fall onboard the OOCL Montreal at the French port of Le Havre.
Courtenay Allan, director of transatlantic services for Hong Kong's leading container shipping line, was attending the vessel's maiden voyage last Thursday when he fell 20 metres down a lift shaft. He died the next day.
French authorities are continuing investigations into the death but are treating it is an accident.
'He was with several other VIPs who were very shaken. What no one can understand is how this could have happened,' a Port of Le Havre Authority spokeswoman said.
Mr Allen, 53, was showing OOCL customers the new vessel during its first visit to the port after being delivered in May from Daewoo Shipbuilding and Engineering in South Korea.
An OOCL official in Hong Kong declined to comment.