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Two passengers were swept to their deaths on the cruise ship MS Louis Majesty on Wednesday when 30-foot waves crashed into the vessel. As many as 14 others were injured off the French port of Marseilles after 60 mile an hour winds caused a series of three monstrous swells.

Abnormally high waves smashed five large public observation windows in the forward section of Deck 5, killing two male passengers, a 69-year-old German man and a 52-year-old Italian man, and leaving fourteen others injured, according to spokesman Michael Maratheftis.

The Louis Cruise Lines ship, carrying 1,350 passengers and 580 crew members, was sailing on the Mediterranean Sea under a Maltese flag and traveling from Barcelona, Spain, to Genoa, Italy at the time the rogue wave hit. The vessel is 680 feet long and includes 10 passenger decks and 732 staterooms.

Immediately following the incident, the cruise ship turned around and headed back to port in Barcelona, where four ambulances transported the injured to an area hospital, including a 62-year-old woman who suffered two broken legs.

The Louis Majesty was formerly the Norwegian Majesty, renamed in June 2009.

More photos below, including night shots and video of the disabled vessel docked in Barcelona for repairs and footage of a monster wave: