United Kingdom
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Asia Pacific
Stricken cruise ship towed to safety
Costa Concordia’s sister ship the Costa Allegra, which was adrift in the Indian Ocean for several hours, is being towed towards the Seychelles this morning under guard. The ship lost all power yesterday after a fire broke out in the generator room.
Thirty-one Britons are among the 636 passengers onboard who have been left with no air-conditioning, no lighting and no cooking facilities since the blaze, which has now been extinguished. All passengers and crew are reported to be safe in their muster stations and the situation on the ship is said to be calm.
A helicopter from Mahe delivered fresh food and communication devices to the ship this morning.
A French fishing vessel is taking the Allegra to Desroches island south-west of the Seychelles, where it is expected to arrive tomorrow morning.
Somali pirates are known to operate in the area, and although they have never seized a cruise ship there are nine members of the Italian navy’s anti-pirate unit onboard the Allegra as a precaution.
The passengers and crew will be taken to the one hotel on Desroches island to wait for transfers to the main island of Mahe, said reports. This is likely to take some time as only planes with a maximum of 20 seats can land on Desroches, which has little accommodation.
The ship, which is from the same fleet as the Costa Concordia which capsized off the coast of Italy last month, has no power and there are fears an emergency generator powering radio communications could fail.
However, Costa Cruises stressed the ship was steady. The company said it had managed to reach the relatives of two-thirds of passengers via their emergency contact numbers and relatives of 413 crew members have also been kept informed of the incident.
Families in the UK can call the company’s emergency line on 020 7940 3300.
The ship left Madagascar on Saturday and it was due to arrive in the Seychelles on Tuesday. Further destinations on its itinerary include Alexandria and Naples in the Mediterranean.
Costa has not yet said what compensation will be offered to the stranded passengers, or what arrangements it is making for passengers booked to travel on future Costa Allegra departures.
By Linsey McNeill
Do you have passengers stranded on the Costa Allegra? How is this latest incident affecting cruise bookings? Have you say by clicking on the Comment button below.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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