Concordia sister ship adrift in ocean after blaze

The accident aboard the Costa Allegra yesterday came about six weeks after the Costa Concordia, owned by the same company, capsized off Italy, killing 25 people and leaving seven missing presumed dead.

Italian Coastguard Commander Cosimo Nicastro said the Allegra’s captain had said the blaze was quickly extinguished.

“The passengers are fine,” he said.

But the fire left the cruise liner “without propulsion,” meaning the ship, with 636 passengers and 413 crew, was adrift in the sea because the engines were not working.

Costa Crociere, which is based in Genoa, Italy, said its ship was about 20 miles from Alphonse Island in the Seychelles, a popular tourist destination.

Coastguard and fishing boats and an aircraft were being sent to the disabled ship.

The general region where the cruise ship was adrift – off the coast of Tanzania – has seen a rash of attacks by Somali pirates, but they have never hijacked a cruise ship. A Seychelles official said armed guards were on board the cruise ship. She said that was standard practice “these days”.

“If pirates attack, the armed guards on-board will respond. But as far as I am aware, no pirates have been sighted in the area,” she said.

The company said after the fire began in the ship’s electric generator room, “the special firefighting units intervened to extinguish it. “There were no injuries or casualties,” it said.

The cruise company said a general emergency alarm was “promptly sounded” as a precaution, and that all passengers and crew not involved in the emergency reached muster stations.

After the Concordia struck a reef off the Italian island of Giglio on January 13, its captain was arrested and several other officials were placed under investigation.

When the Concordia listed to one side, many people had not been put on to life boats and some jumped into the sea.

The Italian-built, eight deck Allegra had left northern Madagascar on Saturday and was cruising toward the port of Victoria, Seychelles’ capital, when the fire began.