Tag Archives: fire onboard

Carnival decides to tow Triumph to Mobile

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Carnival decides to tow Triumph to Mobile

By Tom Stieghorst
The disabled Carnival Triumph will be towed to Mobile, Ala., rather than to Progreso, Mexico, as initially planned.

The ship, which lost propulsion after an engine-room fire, has drifted about 90 miles north since Sunday because of a strong current.

“This now puts the ship nearly equidistant to Mobile, and given the strength of the currents, it is preferable to head north to Mobile, rather than attempt to tow against them,” Carnival Cruise Lines President Gerry Cahill said.

In a statement, Cahill said that the Triumph is expected to arrive in Mobile on Thursday, about the same time it would arrive in Progreso from its current location.

He said returning to a U.S. port will also be more convenient for 900 guests on the ship traveling without passports.

The first of two tugs needed to move the stricken vessel arrived and tied up with the Triumph on Monday, and the second was expected early on Tuesday.

Carnival said its technical team had gradually restored power to some hotel functions. Public and cabin toilets are operational in certain sections of the ship, power has been restored to a limited number of elevators, and some power in the Lido dining area is providing for hot coffee and limited hot food service, Carnival said.

Cahill said Carnival is sorry for the inconvenience, discomfort and frustration of guests. “We know they expected a fantastic vacation, and clearly that is not what they received,” he said.

He said personnel are working around the clock to care for passengers and get them home safely.

Engine fire leaves Carnival cruise ship powerless

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Engine fire leaves Carnival cruise ship powerless

By Phil Davies

Engine fire leaves Carnival cruise ship powerlessCarnival Cruise Lines ship Carnival Triumph was left powerless 150 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico after an engine room fire.

The 3,143 passengers were remaining in the ship’s public areas and open decks. They were being provided with food and refreshments.

The ship’s automatic fire extinguishing systems activated and the blaze was contained to the aft engine room before being extinguished.

No casualties or injuries to guests or crew have been reported, Carnival said.

“The vessel is currently without propulsion and the ship is operating on emergency generator power,” the cruise line said on Sunday night.

All appropriate authorities including the US Coast Guard have been notified

“The ship’s technical crew is continuing to assess the damage and attempting to restore power. In the meantime, a tugboat is being dispatched to the ship’s location in the event it is needed,” a company statement said.

The vessel, with 1,086 crew on board, was on a four-day cruise from Galveston in Texas. The next cruise due to depart on Monday has been cancelled.

Passengers on the ship are being offered a full refund inclusive of gratuities and any transportation expenses.

Passengers on the cancelled sailing are being given the option of cancelling and receiving a full refund or waiting for further information to determine if a shortened, partial voyage may be possible.

In an updated statement Carnival said a tugboat had been called out to tow Carnival Triumph to the nearest port at Progreso in Mexico. It is due to arrive on Wednesday afternoon when passengers will be flown back to the US.

Another Carnival ship, Carnival Elation, was sent to transfer additional food and drink to the powerless vessel.

Carnival said: “We have contacted the designated emergency contacts for all guests presently on board Carnival Triumph.”

The next two voyages of Carnival Triumph, due to depart today (Monday) and February 16 have now been cancelled.

Carnival said: “Guests scheduled to sail on either of those voyages will receive a full refund, reimbursement for non-refundable travel expenses and a 25% discount on a future three to five-day cruise.”

Tui puts contingency plans in place for Dreamliner

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Tui puts contingency plans in place for Dreamliner

By Phil Davies

Tui puts contingency plans in place for DreamlinerTui Travel has no plans to cancel its order for 13 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

But the travel group is having to make contingency plans in case deliveries are delayed following trouble with batteries on 787s flown by Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways

Chief executive Peter Long said: “Our view is that this is the right airplane for us and we do not intend to change our order for the aircraft.

“We wait to see that these short-term issues are resolved with the regulatory authorities … but we don’t have visibility around how long that will take.”

He spoke ahead of the US Federal Aviation Administration granting Boeing the go-ahead to carry out 787 test flights.

Tui hopes to introduce the aircraft in May and plans to operate the aircraft on long-haul routes from Manchester, Gatwick, Glasgow and East Midlands to destinations including Florida, Mexico, Barbados, Cuba, Kenya and Thailand.

Long said: “Our priority is running our own programme and we will have to determine whether this is going to happen in May. We are building contingency plans because we have to.”

Regulators around the world grounded the new generation 787 in mid-January after a battery fire in Boston and a second incident involving a battery on a flight in Japan.

The FAA said the test flights will help collect data about battery performance “while the aircraft is airborne”.

A Boeing spokesman said the information will “support the continuing investigations into the cause of the recent 787 battery incidents”.

“We are confident that the 787 is safe to operate for this flight test activity,” he added.

The FAA said it had asked Boeing to conduct extensive pre-flight testing and inspections and that the flights would be conducted “in defined airspace over unpopulated areas”.

But the US National Transportation Safety Board said tests carried out by Boeing on Dreamliner batteries, when they were first certified, missed the high risk of fire.

The tests underestimated the frequency of “smoke events” in the lithium ion batteries.

NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman said that Boeing’s safety checks suggested that a smoke event would occur less than once every 10 million flight hours.

However, 787s have only clocked up 100,000 hours of flight-time since entering commercial services, and have experienced two battery fires.

Hersman said that “the failure rate was higher than predicted as part of the certification process and the possibility that a short circuit in a single cell could propagate to adjacent cells and result in smoke and fire must be reconsidered”.