Engine room fire breaks out on carnival cruise ship leaving passengers stranded at sea

How many vessels does it take to assist a Carnival cruise ship with 3,299 passengers and 1,167 crew adrift about 200 miles south of San Diego after an engine room fire cutting power to the vessel?

Eight!

Two tugboats, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, three USCG cutters, a USCG HC-130 Hercules aircraft, and a 965-foot container ship participating in the Amver program!

An engine room fire broke out yesterday aboard the Carnival Splendor while the cruise was on its first leg of a Mexico-bound voyage.  Thankfully, crews were able to extinguish the fire in about 3 hours and without injury, but not before knocking out power to the vessel leaving passengers without air conditioning, hot food service, hot water or telephones.  Toilets and cold running water were restored Monday night.

The tugs, which are set to arrive midday today, will tow the vessel to Ensenada for unloading and the USS Ronald Reagan has been diverted from training maneuvers and loaded with 35 pallets of supplies to drop off by helicopter.

Not to worry… Passengers are getting full refunds, travel reimbursements and credits for a future cruise with Carnival.

More on this story can be found at Yahoo! News.

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