Cruise Ship Passengers Evacuated
Recently, 741 passengers and crew members were evacuated from the Ocean Star Pacific after a fire broke out on one of the ship’s generators. The vessel is now owned and operated by Ocean Star Cruises, a newly-formed cruise line based in Mexico. The fire shut down power to the ship while it was sailing off the Mexican coast. The 515 passengers and 226 crew members were taken by catamaran to the port of Huatulco on Mexico’s West Coast.
A representative for Ocean Star, Carlos Salazar, told the Latin American Herald Tribune that the generator fire “caused a blackout leaving the engines unable to be restarted and the ship was adrift.” Salazar said that the fire was quickly put out and there were no injuries.
Last year, in November, the Carnival Splendor suffered a fire on-board in an engine room resulting in a loss of power to several areas of the ship. The cruise ship was left disabled off the coast of Mexico with nearly 4,500 passengers and crew members on-board. The U.S. Navy had to deliver food and supplies to the ship before she was towed to port in San Diego.
