Crippled ship makes final approach to Seychelles

Aircraft readied on Wednesday to evacuate over 1,000 passengers on a crippled Italian cruise ship from the same fleet as the doomed Costa Concordia, as it limped the final distance toward port in the Seychelles.

Towed by a fishing boat and guarded by coast guard vessels in the pirate-infested Indian Ocean, the Costa Allegra was carrying passengers who prepared to spend a third night on the vessel since an engine fire knocked out power on Monday.

With no electricity and no air conditioning, the passengers are crowded on decks in sweltering temperatures, with the liner's operating company Costa Crociere saying it was offering mineral water "for personal hygiene needs."

"The bathrooms on the ship have not been working since the fire," Italian coast guard spokesman Cosimo Nicastro told AFP. Emergency supplies, food and electric torches have been airlifted by helicopter onto the vessel.

The liner was expected to arrive into port in Mahe, the main island of the Seychelles archipelago, by 0500 GMT on Thursday depending on weather conditions, Costa Crociere added in a statement.

"The minute the boat docks the passengers will disembark because all formalities have already been taken care of, immigration was airlifted onto the boat this morning," said Seychelles tourism board director Alain St. Ange.

"They'll arrive early and probably want a cooked breakfast. They've had two or three days of bubbling away on an ocean on a boat with no steam. It's not been easy but I know they are already relieved to be heading into port."

Two airplanes are already in Victoria, waiting to fly passengers home, said Lina Laurence, spokeswoman for the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, with a third expected to arrive Thursday.

"Over 600 airline seats have already been optioned to organise returns (and) more than 400 hotel rooms have been optioned for possible accommodation needs," Costa Crociere said.

A French tuna fishing boat, the Trevignon, responded to the Costa Allegra's mayday call and was towing the boat solo, crawling along at a speed of around six knots (11 km an hour) through calm seas.

The boat "is coming slowly, but is coming," said a Seychelles coast guard official who declined to be named, speaking at the command centre in Victoria port where the ship's progress is tracked on a giant map.

The fire broke out near the ship's generators in the engine room as the Costa Allegra was making its way from Madagascar, which it departed on Saturday, to the Seychelles, where it had been due to arrive on Tuesday.

Emergency crews on board extinguished the fire after a few hours and no-one was injured, but the liner was left powerless and adrift.

A Seychelles coast guard vessel took a small emergency power generator to the Costa Allegra on Tuesday to help restore some basic services, while two tugboats were also on hand to provide support if needed.

"The situation on board is normal, the weather is good," Costa Crociere added.

The former container ship was converted into a cruise liner in 1992, and includes two pools, a casino and several bars and restaurants.

The Costa Allegra is owned by the same company as the much larger Costa Concordia, which ran aground off the Italian island of Giglio and keeled over last month with 4,229 people on board in an accident that claimed 32 lives.

Nine people are under investigation for the disaster, including three Costa Crociere executives, the ship's captain and five other crew members.

Costa Crociere said there were 636 passengers and 413 crew from 25 countries on board the Allegra, including nine Italian Marines hired to guard against possible pirate attacks. It said everyone was in good health.

Most of the passengers are Italian, French, Austrian and Swiss.

After the Seychelles, an idyllic archipelago of more than 115 islands, the Costa Allegra had been due to travel along the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
 

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