Stricken Cruise Ship Arrives in Malaysian Port After Fire at Sea

A luxury 11-deck cruise ship, Azamara Quest, managed to arrive safely into Sandakan port, in Borneo island- Malaysia, under the guidance of an escort flotilla of U.S. and Philippines Navy vessels on Sunday after 8.30 pm (1230 GMT), Reuters informs.

The ship was drifting off its course into unsafe waters, infested by pirates and militant groups, amid a fire that broke out in one of its engine rooms on Friday.

Luckily, the engineers on-board successfully put out the fire and restored the ship’s propulsion system on Saturday. They also managed to restore air conditioning, running water, refrigeration and food preparation on board the ship. The captain ordered that the passengers gather at the assembly stations as a precaution measure, therefore passengers were kept safe and panic was avoided.

However, in an attempt to restore safety to the ship, carrying around 600 passengers, five crew members on board suffered the effects of smoke inhalation and one of them was in need of serious medical assistance.

Due to the damage inflicted by the fire, the rest of the cruise, which was supposed to end on April 12 in Singapore, had to be cancelled and the ship anchored in one of the nearest ports.

The local authorities provided buses and accommodation in several hotels for the passengers, who were greeted at the Port by representatives of various consular offices, including Azamara Club Cruises company president, Larry Pimentel.

In addition, the passengers will be refunded for their cruise:

“Azamara Club Cruises will also be providing each guest with a future cruise certificate for 100 per cent of the cruise fare paid for their March 26, 2012 Azamara Quest sailing,” the company said in a statement.

[mappress]

World Maritime News Staff, April 2, 2012