Run for the lifeboats! Britons’ terror as blaze hits cruise ship
PASSENGERS on a luxury cruise liner were terrified when a fire plunged it into darkness and they prepared to abandon ship.
The Boudicca was sailing off the coast of Morocco at 4am on Sunday when the engine room caught alight.
As the ship lost power and started to list, the 784 passengers, including many Britons, were ordered to put on life jackets and head for the life boats.
Frightened and bewildered, many contacted their loved ones back home as the liner drifted in the darkness.
Dave Tonkin, a father of two from Burnham-on-Sea who had relatives on board, wrote on Twitter: ‘Boudicca listing hard and engineless off coast of Africa after engine fire. Ship left in pitch black. Worrying texts from family on board.’
Lucy Birch, from Sheffield, wrote on Twitter how she had received ‘a panicked phone call of love from relatives who fear for their life’.
Other Britons used the social media site to contact the cruise liner’s owner to report the distraught phone calls they had received from family members in the night.
However, as passengers gathered at muster stations by the lifeboats, the crew managed to bring the fire under control.
Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, which manages the Boudicca, yesterday said: ‘The fire was in the engine room, but [was] extinguished, and no guests or crew have been injured.
‘Following the loss of propulsion system, Boudicca listed for a short period, but is now fully stable. ‘Guests’ services have now been restored, and guests have been kept informed of the situation at all times.’ Boudicca, which boasts 356 crew members, three pools, two Jacuzzis, seven restaurants, a jewellery store and a casino, departed from Southampton on January 20 for a cruise around Cape Verde and the Canaries, and was scheduled to arrive in Lanzarote this morning after leaving Cadiz, Spain, on Saturday.
Passengers had shelled out between £1,199 and £2,049 for the 18-night experience.
The cruise itinerary included stop-offs at Madeira and Tenerife and promised ‘ lush mountain ranges and deserted beaches to volcanic landscapes and vibrant towns’. A Fred Olsen spokesman said it was trying to get their itinerary back on schedule.
Cruise ships have suffered a series of misfortunes recently.
Last month three people died when a fire broke out aboard the Oceania Insignia luxury liner off the Caribbean island of St Lucia. All 656 passengers and 400 crew members were evacuated.
And in November, the MS Marco Polo cruise liner carrying 750 tourists ran aground in Norway – just nine months after British pensioner James Swinstead, 85, from Colchester, Essex, was killed and several other passengers injured when waves crashed through its windows when violent storms hit the English Channel.
In July, the shipwrecked Costa Concordia was finally removed from rocks two-and-a-half years after the liner sank with the loss of 32 lives off the coast of the Italian holiday island of Giglio.
‘Listing hard and engineless’