The towing of a stricken Italian cruise ship to the Seychelles is going well and no problems are expected, the company that owns the vessel carrying out the operation said today.

"Everything is going well. The weather conditions are fine and even rather good," Pierre-Alain Carre, the operating director of the Brittany-based Compagnie Francaise du Thon Oceanique (CFTO), told AFP.

The tuna trawler Trevignon is towing the Costa Allegra after the ship, carrying more than 1,000 passengers, suffered an engine room fire and ended up drifting in the waters of the Indian Ocean where Somali pirates have in the past attacked and captured foreign ships.

Asked about the Trevignon's towing capacity, Carre indicated that the vessel was strong enough to pull the Costa Allegra.

"The Trevignon is half as long as the Costa Allegra. This is a ship that is made for pulling very heavy nets," he said.

A second similar trawler owned by the same company, the Talenduic, is also on its way to assist in the rescue operations.

The cruise ship will be towed directly to the main island of Mahe in the Seychelles and will arrive on Thursday, the operator said.

The original plan had been for the French fishing boat to tow the liner to the remote island of Desroches, also part of the Seychelles archipelago, and to disembark passengers there before taking them to Mahe by ferry.

"The disembarkation on Desroches Island cannot be performed and therefore it has been decided that the ship will be towed to Mahe," Costa Crociere, which is Europe's biggest cruise operator, said in a statement.

The company said helicopters would also ensure a continuous supply of food and other items like flashlights to the ship as the fire knocked out the liner's electricity system and engines.