2 O.C. Men Injured in U.K. Ferry Accident : Collapse: Six died when steel walkway to cross-channel vessel toppled. The two friends from Mission Viejo are among the seven others hurt.

The last person Bob Welson figured would be calling long-distance Tuesday night was his son.

Darren Welson was supposed to be asleep several time zones away on a ferry--with two friends--crossing the English Channel to Belgium as part of a three-week European trip the three had planned.

But a steel walkway leading to the vessel collapsed in a freak accident, killing six people and injuring seven others, including Darren Welson and his best friend, Kevin Gaffney, both 24 and from Mission Viejo.

“He got banged up a bit,” Bob Welson said Wednesday of his son. “He hurt his knee and banged his head and elbow. He’s pretty resilient.”

Gaffney’s father was also relieved.

“They were at the end of the ramp, thank God,” John Gaffney said. “It fell from the other side. I have a very lucky son.”

The three friends’ fall also may have been cushioned by backpacks and duffel bags they were carrying. The men had planned to sleep mostly in youth hostels during the trip, said Gaffney’s mother, Charon .

“My son said he fell on his duffel bag,” Welson said. “He fell from the walkway somewhat, but the angle of this thing was such that he didn’t fall as far as others, and kind of slid down.”

Welson said his son told him Wednesday that 15 people were on the walkway when it buckled.

The buddies were traveling with David Gillespie, 36, of Las Vegas, a friend of Gaffney’s. Gillespie suffered a foot or ankle injury, according to Gaffney’s family.

Others were not as fortunate.

Two Belgian men and a British man were among the dead, authorities said. The three others--two men and a woman--were crushed and could not be identified immediately.

The accident occurred in Ramsgate, a port city 60 miles east of London.

Gaffney was still in the hospital Wednesday with a dislocated shoulder, his mother said.

Charon Gaffney said her son underwent a test Wednesday at a Canterbury hospital to determine whether he had any internal injuries. She said a different test was to be conducted today .

She said her son was under sedation and unable to discuss the accident when she spoke with him Wednesday afternoon.

She was first able to talk to him earlier that day after five hours of fitful sleep.

“It’s the distance,” she said of the worry. “If it’s New York, it’s one thing, but it’s across the ocean and it was difficult at first to get information.”

During the day, the parents tuned to television, searching for videotape of the accident to try to understand what happened.

Welson, Gaffney and Gillespie were among the last to be boarding when the walkway buckled, said Welson’s father. Most of the 400 passengers were already on the ferry.

Welson said his son was scheduled to return home tonight, and would likely have to return to England later for an inquiry into the accident.

The Swedish-built walkway was installed eight months ago, officials said. Investigators will focus on whether a structural fault or improper attachment of the walkway, custom-built for the ferry, caused the fatal collapse.

The three men met at an Amnesty International meeting, and had been planning the trip for the past year, Charon Gaffney said.

Welson works at Circuit City in Lakewood and graduated this summer from Cal State Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. His father said the trip was a graduation present.