Five people died and three others were injured in an accident during a drill with a lifeboat on a cruise ship moored in the port of La Palma, in the Canary Islands.

The crew of the cruise ship Thomson Majesty, sailing under the flag of  Malta, participated in a simulated emergency which also included the two thousand passengers on board.

The drill involved lowering of the lifeboat when the cable that controls the motion of the boat failed and the boat rushed from a height of over 20 meters into the water.

The five fatalities, all crew members, had Indonesian, Filipino and Ghanaian citizenship. The there injured crew members are two Greeks and a Filipino.

Thomson Cruises released a statement saying that "one person has been discharged from hospital and we expect the other two people to be released from hospital imminently. Our thoughts are with the families of those involved.

"We are working closely with the ship owners and managers, Louis Cruises, to determine exactly what has happened and provide assistance to those affected," the statement added.

Despite the accident, the authorities in Santa Cruz de La Palma allowed the ship to continue its journey, with departure scheduled for tomorrow morning.