INVESTIGATORS have yet to determine the cause of the accident which saw seven men rushed to hospital after the lifeboat they were in plunged 60 feet into the waters off Dockyard.

Police reported yesterday that three of the men involved have now been released from King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. Three others remain on a general ward. The seventh victim, a 33-year-old, remains at a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was airlifted for treatment.

"The investigation into this incident is continuing," a police spokesman said yesterday. "The investigating officer is PC Paul Watson of the Marine Police Unit, in conjunction with the Registry of Shipping, the manufacturer of the lifeboat and the manufacturer of the hoist mechanism."

The men, all crew members from the Empress of the Seas, were being lowered alongside the cruise ship as part of a safety drill when the accident happened on Tuesday.

Though all were initially rushed to KEMH, the 33-year-old was flown to Boston for treatment of spinal injuries. A second man, who nearly drowned, was placed in the Intensive Care Unit and three victims were recovering on general wards with various injuries including a separated shoulder, lacerations to the head and a dislocated and fractured shoulder. The remaining two men were examined and released.