Crippled Italian cruise liner arrives in Seychelles
- 12 years ago
Crippled cruise liner the Costa Allegra is towed into the Seychelles port of Victoria by a French tuna boat.
An engine room fire knocked out the ship's main power supply on Monday, leaving the vessel adrift with more than 1,000 people aboard in Indian Ocean waters vulnerable to pirates.
Passengers are relieved their three-day ordeal is finally over.
(SOUNDBITE)(German) COSTA ALLEGRA PASSENGER SAYING:
"At the beginning, when we left Madagascar, it was stormy and the sea was choppy and after eight kilometres we stopped. We were towed for 420 kilometres - that was difficult. But the crew were very good, they looked after everything to make sure everything was in order and we are really happy that we are now off the ship."
A Health Ministry official said six passengers had broken limbs and others were bruised, but declined to comment further.
For many, once the initial emergency was over, the hardest thing was coping with the heat.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) COSTA ALLEGRA PASSENGER, SAYING:
"We all went to our life stations and there was a point where we thought we were going to have to lower the boats. So, then they were able to put the fire out and from that point on, it was just a matter of inconvenience, not having enough food, not being able to rest well at night. We had...the heat is unbearable, so we had to spend most of our nights on the top deck of the ship."
Costa Cruises say more than half the 636 passengers aboard the Costa Allegra have chosen to continue their holiday in the Seychelles at the company's expense.
Charter flights have been arranged to help other passengers return home.
The Costa Allegra is owned by the same company that owns the Costa Concordia, which tragically ran aground off the coast of Italy last month.
Nick Rowlands, Reuters.
An engine room fire knocked out the ship's main power supply on Monday, leaving the vessel adrift with more than 1,000 people aboard in Indian Ocean waters vulnerable to pirates.
Passengers are relieved their three-day ordeal is finally over.
(SOUNDBITE)(German) COSTA ALLEGRA PASSENGER SAYING:
"At the beginning, when we left Madagascar, it was stormy and the sea was choppy and after eight kilometres we stopped. We were towed for 420 kilometres - that was difficult. But the crew were very good, they looked after everything to make sure everything was in order and we are really happy that we are now off the ship."
A Health Ministry official said six passengers had broken limbs and others were bruised, but declined to comment further.
For many, once the initial emergency was over, the hardest thing was coping with the heat.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) COSTA ALLEGRA PASSENGER, SAYING:
"We all went to our life stations and there was a point where we thought we were going to have to lower the boats. So, then they were able to put the fire out and from that point on, it was just a matter of inconvenience, not having enough food, not being able to rest well at night. We had...the heat is unbearable, so we had to spend most of our nights on the top deck of the ship."
Costa Cruises say more than half the 636 passengers aboard the Costa Allegra have chosen to continue their holiday in the Seychelles at the company's expense.
Charter flights have been arranged to help other passengers return home.
The Costa Allegra is owned by the same company that owns the Costa Concordia, which tragically ran aground off the coast of Italy last month.
Nick Rowlands, Reuters.