MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Stranded luxury cruise with 1.000 people finally makes it to Malaysia

The Azamara Quest caught fire in the engine room and left with no energy

A luxury cruise ship stranded at sea for 24 hours because of a fire has safely reached a Malaysian port. The Azamara Quest was adrift off the southern Philippines for 24 hours with 1,000 people aboard after flames engulfed one of its engine rooms Friday night.

It restored propulsion the next night and reached the harbor of Sandakan city in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah on Borneo Island late Sunday. Police and buses were waiting at the port to take the passengers to a hotel.

Five crew members suffered smoke inhalation, including one who was seriously injured.

It was the latest in a series of accidents hitting luxury cruise liners since January, when the Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people.

The vessel is carrying 590 passengers and 411 crew members. Over one-third, or 201, of the passengers are American, according to lists of passenger and crew nationalities provided by the ship captain to the Philippine coast guard.

The passengers from 25 countries also include 98 from Britain, 89 from Australia, 45 from Canada, 39 from Germany, 32 from Austria, 16 from Belgium, 14 from New Zealand and 14 from Switzerland.

Azamara Club Cruises, the ship's Miami, Florida-based operator, said in a statement Sunday that the ship was sailing at a top speed of only 6 knots (11 kilometers) per hour and was expected to reach Sandakan at 10 p.m. (1400 GMT).

“Unfortunately, the ship has not been able to restore power to the air conditioning compressors. While this is a very difficult undertaking, the onboard team is diligently working to resolve this issue. The guest sentiment onboard continues to be calm and upbeat,” the statement said.

The company president Larry Pimentel was in Sandakan to meet with the passengers and crew.

Engineers on Saturday morning restored electricity in the ship to re-establish essentials including running water, plumbing, refrigeration and food preparation, the company said.

The company said the rest of the cruise would be canceled. It said it would fully refund the passengers and provide each guest with a future cruise certificate for the amount paid for the aborted voyage. Azamara Club Cruises is part of Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. The stricken ship had been scheduled to make several stops in Indonesia before arriving in Singapore on April 12.