Costa ship adrift off the Seychelles

An Italian cruise ship from the same fleet as the tragedy-struck Costa Concordia was adrift in choppy seas off the Seychelles with more than 1,000 people on board following an engine room fire, yesterday evening.

No one was injured on the Costa Allegra but it was forced to make a mayday call seeking assistance from nearby cargo ships

Fire crews on board put out the blaze and no one was injured on the luxury ship, the Costa Allegra, but it was forced to make a mayday call seeking assistance from nearby cargo ships and there has been a power blackout.

The Italian coast guard said the first vessel to come to the rescue, a 90-metre fishing trawler, was expected to arrive in the area at around midnight Italian time and another four hours after that. The first tug boat is only set to arrive at around 1500 GMT today.

The trawler was not expected to evacuate any passengers but would help ensure radio contact as the Costa Allegra’s communications equipment is currently relying on emergency batteries. The coast guard said the accident happened near Alphonse Island some 200 nautical miles from the main island of the Indian Ocean archipelago. A government official said: “An aircraft (from the Seychelles coast guard) is flying over the vessel.”

Italy’s coast guard said the plane made an initial reconnaissance over the area – where Somali pirates have attacked several vessels over the past few years – and found that the ship was stable. All 636 passengers and 413 crew members on the ship were “in good health and were informed promptly of the situation”.

“The Costa Allegra’s engines are out but its communications are working,” the coast guard said, adding that wind speeds in the area were around 25 knots which can make for choppy but not gale-force conditions at sea.

The ship was at the start of a cruise which would have also taken it to Oman, the Red Sea and the Egyptian Mediterranean port of Alexandria. The Costa Allegra weighs 28,597 tons and is 188 metres long. The much larger Costa Concordia, weighing more than 114,000 tons, crashed into the Italian island of Giglio last month with 4,229 people from 60 countries on board in a tragedy that claimed 32 lives.