More than 1,000 people on board a stricken Italian cruise liner arrived safely in the Seychelles yesterday where the captain told how passengers were ready to abandon ship as his crew fought a fire that left the vessel adrift and powerless.

One passenger said he and his terrified wife had contemplated jumping into the sea as the Costa Allegra stalled in an area of the Indian Ocean where Somali pirates prey on merchant shipping.

“We thought the worst had happened. I couldn’t believe it, after what happened to the other cruise ship. I could just picture having to jump for it into the water – my wife was terrified,” Chris told reporters as angry and exhausted passengers disembarked in the Seychelles.

“Guests were prepared to disembark, they put on life vests and were taken to lifeboats,” the captain, Niccolo Alba, told a press conference after docking in Victoria.

“Obviously all the passengers were assembled at the muster stations to prepare to board the lifeboats,” after the fire broke out in the engine room on Monday, he said.

“The emergency situation lasted for three hours to make sure the fire was completely out.”

The ship drifted for several hours before being taken into tow by a French deep sea fishing boat, and limped into Victoria port yesterday after a three-day ordeal. Frightened passengers spent most of the time crowded on the Costa Allegra’s decks fighting sweltering temperatures since the fire had knocked out the ship’s power, leaving it without lighting, electric toilets and air-conditioning.

“The fear was that we would have to abandon ship with all these children and elderly people in the middle of the Indian Ocean,” said the ship’s Italian chaplain, Father Camillo Testa.

“Not being able to go back into the cabins sparked a bit of panic on board.”

Once the panic subsided, however, others were determined to enjoy their holiday as best as they could.