Curse of Costa: Cruise ship adrift with no power off Seychelles

An Italian cruise ship from the same fleet as the tragedy-struck Costa Concordia was adrift Monday in choppy seas off the Seychelles with no power after a fire and 1,049 people on board.

Emergency crews managed to put out the blaze in the ship's engine room within a few hours and no one was injured on the ship, the Costa Allegra, but it was forced to make a mayday call seeking assistance from nearby vessels.

Cruise operator Costa Crociere said the first vessel to come to the rescue, a cargo boat, was to arrive in the area of the Indian Ocean at around midnight Italian time (2300 GMT) and would be followed by two French fishing trawlers shortly after that.

A company official Giorgio Moretti said one option was to evacuate passengers and crew from the Costa Allegra onto vessels and take them to the Seychelles archipelago, while another was to tow the boat to the islands.

"The fire has damaged the ship's electric grid," Moretti told reporters.

He said the passengers and crew came from 25 countries and included 135 Italians, among them nine Marines to guard against pirate attacks, 127 French people, 97 Austrians, 90 Swiss, as well as nationals from Britain, Germany, Mauritius, Russia, Slovenia and Spain.

Moretti said the passengers were safe and sound but were all moved onto the ship's outer decks to ensure an easier evacuation if needed.

The crew had sounded a general emergency alarm "as a precaution," the company said in a statement.

"According to standard procedures, Costa Allegra transmitted a distress signal and the relevant authorities were alerted, including the Maritime Rescue Control Center in Rome, Italy," the statement said.

The Italian coast guard said the first tug boat out of two dispatched from the Seychelles was only set to arrive at around 1500 GMT on Tuesday.

It said the boats arriving in the area could help ensure radio contact as the ship's communications equipment was relying on emergency batteries.

The coast guard also said in a statement it was in touch with local authorities in the Seychelles and that the accident happened near Alphonse Island, some 200 nautical miles from the main islands of the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Costa Crociere -- Europe's biggest cruise operator -- said it was dispatching a plane of managers and technical experts to the Seychelles to aid in the rescue effort and officials there said help was on the way.

"We have made contact with the vessel. We are sending assistance," said Michael Rosette, the Seychelles deputy army chief of staff.
"There are no casualties," he added.

A government official told AFP: "An aircraft (from the Seychelles coast guard) is flying over the vessel. Two tug boats and several vessels have been sent for assistance. Several ships in the vicinity are also being sent."

Italy's coast guard said the plane had already made an initial reconnaissance over the area -- where Somali pirates have attacked several vessels over the past few years -- and found that the ship was stable.

"The ship is completely safe. Other vessels are also on their way. The captain is updating us regularly about the situation on board," said Cosimo Nicastro, a spokesman for the Italian coast guard.

The coast guard said that all 636 passengers and 413 crew members on the ship, which left Madagascar on Saturday on its way to the Seychelles, were "in good health and were informed promptly of the situation".

"The Costa Allegra's engines are out but its communications are working," the coast guard said, adding that wind speeds in the area were around 25 knots which can make for choppy but not gale-force conditions at sea.

The ship was at the start of a cruise which would have also taken it to Oman, the Red Sea and the Egyptian Mediterranean port of Alexandria.

Officials said it was around 20 nautical miles from tiny Alphonse Island, part of an atoll that officially belongs to the Seychelles and is known for its white sandy beaches and dense forests, as well as tortoises and rare birds.

The 1.74-square-kilometre island has a population of just a couple of hundred people and a luxury hotel, the Alphonse Island Resort.

The website of Costa Crociere, which allows users to track the ships, said data transmission from the liner had been temporarily suspended.
Costa Crociere said it had been informed of the fire at 10:39 am (0939 GMT) in Italy.

"Fire security procedures on board were immediately activated and special fire crews intervened. The fire was extinguished and did not extend to any other part of the ship. There were no injured or victims," it said.

"The general emergency alarm was promptly declared. All passengers and crew members not managing the emergency went to the muster stations," it said.

"Checks are under way in the engine room to re-start the instruments necessary to reactivate the functioning of the ship," it said.

The Costa Allegra weighs 28,597 tons and is 188 metres (620 feet) long.

The much larger Costa Concordia, weighing more than 114,000 tons, crashed into the Italian island of Giglio last month with 4,229 people from 60 countries on board in a tragedy 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.
 

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