Costa Allegra out of power adrift 200 miles from the Seychelles Islands
An Italian cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board is without power in the Indian Ocean following a fire. The Costa Allegra is adrift more than 200 miles southwest of the Seychelles, near Alphonse Island.
The ship is from the same fleet as the Costa Concordia, which capsized off the Italian coast in January, killing 32.
Costa Cruises said in a statement that the fire broke out in the electric generators' room. It did not spread and there were no injuries or casualties.
Inspections of the state of the engine room are on-going, the company says.
The crew is working to “restore functionality” to the ship and tugs and other support vessels were on their way to offer assistance, Costa Cruises said
There are 636 passengers and 413 crew members on board the Costa Allegra, which left Madagascar on Saturday. It was due to arrive in the Seychelles on Tuesday.
Ms Allegra was built in 1969 by the Wärtsilä Turku, Finland shipyard as the container MS Annie Johnson for a Swedish company. In 1986 she was sold to Regnecy Cruises with the intention of being converted into a cruise ship under the name MS Regent Moon but she was laid up instead.
In 1988 she was sold to Compañia Naviera Panalexandra and renamed MS Alexandra but continued laid up. In 1990 the ship was acquired by Costa Cruises and rebuilt into a cruise ship at the T. Mariotti shipyard in Genoa and entered service as Costa Allegra in 1992. In 2010 she was chartered to the French cruise brand Paquet Cruises and renamed Allegra.
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We all assumed that he at least steered his ship onto the shore before abandoning it - but he didn't. Soon after the rocks were hit all the engines packed up due to flooding (within 5 mins) and she was simply adrift with no power or steering. It was simply fortunate that the wind was blowing in the right direction and blew her onto the shore. If she'd sunk a few hundred yards out to sea and totally submerged the loss of life would have been of Titanic proportions.
It was just pure luck.
Somali pirates are lurking not too far away.
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