The vessel will have to be towed to port, specialists explain

Feb 11, 2013 08:11 GMT  ·  By

In the aftermath of an engine fire that broke out quite unexpectedly, a Carnival cruise ship carrying 1000 crew members and 3000 passengers now finds itself adrift off the Mexican coast.

Apparently, the fire was dealt with by the ship's automatic sprinkler system, yet the damage it caused made it impossible for the ship to continue propelling itself through the waters.

The incident occurred fairly close to the Yucatan Peninsula, while the Carnival Triumph was traveling towards Galveston, Texas.

Information made available to the public thus far says that the ship is currently floating about in the Gulf of Mexico, and that a rescue party has already been sent in order to tow the ship back to shore.

As explained by a spokesperson for Carnival, "The ship’s technical crew has determined the vessel will need to be towed to port. A tugboat is en route to the ship’s location and will tow the vessel to Progreso, Mexico, which is the closest port."

Sources report that neither members of the crew, nor passengers were in any way harmed by said engine fire.

Furthermore, courtesy of several emergency generators, the people aboard the ship must not worry about having to make do without electricity.

"Another Carnival ship, the Carnival Elation, is currently on scene and transferring additional food and beverage provisions to the Carnival Triumph," reads another statement issued by the company.

By the looks of it, the vessel in charge of towing the Carnival Triumph back to shore, i.e. the Coast Guard’s Cutter Vigorous, was supposed to reach said cruise liner on Monday morning.

As was to be expected, the passengers aboard the ship will receive a full refund and, "cruise credit equal to the amount paid for this voyage," the company explains.

Hopefully, more information on this topic will soon be made available to the general public.