The Costa Allegra has now safely docked in the Seychelles. Here is a quick recap of the past few days…
(2/29/12) 1:35pm: New statement from Costa regarding passengers…
Costa Cruises reports that members of the Care Team have already reached the Costa Allegra and met with passengers on board to check their state of health and spirits and to identify all your needs facing the landing.
So far, 376 of the 627 guests had accepted the proposal by Costa Crociere to continue their holiday in Seychelles. These passengers will be accommodated by the Company in high-end hotels in the following islands: Praslin, La Digue, Silhouette and Cerfs. Costa Crociere is also responsible for the flight back home after this stay.
The 251 remaining guests have decided to return to their home on flights arranged by Costa Crociere, leaving Mahe on Thursday March 1 in the afternoon.
(2/28/12) 1:50pm: New statement from Costa – tugs have arrived…
This afternoon around 12.30 Italian time (the 15:30 local time) the two tugs reached the Costa Allegra and are joining in service as the second deep-sea fishing vessel has reached it. Costa Allegra continues to be driven by deep-sea fishing vessel flying the French flag Trévignon and maintains a speed of about 6 knots. At current rates, and the weather stable Costa Allegra may also anticipate their arrival in Mahé early morning hours of March 1.
Tomorrow will be the expected arrival of a helicopter to refuel the ship flashlights (400) and bread, as on board, in the absence of electricity, can not be produced as usual, while not lacking food and other relief supplies.
Also thanks to the arrival of a small generator carried by a Navy ship in the present site for assistance, you are trying to do everything possible to make more comfortable the situation on board in order to restore some minimal function intermittently on board. The speed of the ship, despite the hot and humid climate, creates a slight breeze that helps make the situation more bearable.
Meanwhile, early in the afternoon, also arrived at Mahe the “Care Team” of Costa Crociere a group of 14 people made up of executives and managers as well as qualified technicians with the task of providing the necessary assistance to both the ship and passengers and crew members upon their arrival in Mahé.
members of the “Care Team” is are immediately met with local authorities and those responsible for the coordination of relief efforts to define the operational details of the arrival of the passengers on the island in order to provide the necessary accommodation in hotels and a local ‘efficient organization of the return to their final destination.
Eight members of the “Care Team” Coast, thanks to a local Navy ship, on board the Costa Allegra will rise tomorrow morning to meet our guests and discuss with them all the necessary arrangements and to assist the staff of the ship in the most technical assessments depth. Along with the “Care Team” Costa will be two officers of the Seychelles to facilitate inspection and immigration procedures.
(2/28/12) 1:15pm: New statement from Costa regarding fire fighting mechanisms and safety on board…
Fire-fighting measures on ships Costa The fire risk is traditionally considered more seriously on board a ship or a boat and is therefore subject to special preventive measures, staff training and intervention plans.
All ships, from the design and construction stages in the pipeline, are built with these materials and criteria to make them safe and reliable regarding fire prevention.
All facilities and equipment are subject to fire testing, tests and periodic inspections, as provided for by the various international standards and company procedures.
The very structure of vessels is designed so that you can isolate a fire, if it occurred, and make it more manageable and less dangerous. For this purpose, the ship is divided into main vertical zones, separated by metal bulkheads of special thick and adequately insulated and equipped with special doors called “fire” with the same characteristics of the walls, which, once closed manually or by the Command Bridge, delaying the progress of a fire at the rest of the ship.
The ventilation ducts and air extraction and those of air conditioning, are equipped with special metallic dampers that close automatically in case of high temperature, in order to interrupt the airflow and avoid feeding the fire.
All rooms of the vessel, including the cabins for passengers and the crew are equipped with fire detectors that automatically indicate smoke or high temperature Command bridge. In addition, numerous alarms manuals are positioned throughout the ship to allow any person on Board reported the presence of a principle of fire.
Thousands of sprinkler nozzles (spray/plant sprayers) are placed on the ceilings, are activated automatically when the temperature reaches high levels, by spraying water in the surrounding space.
Some of the ship that present particular risks, are protected by fixed extinguishing systems (e.g. carbon dioxide for engines, steam for kitchen hoods, water spray for fryers, etc.).
Throughout the ship and in all places there are hundreds of different kinds of portable fire extinguishers (depending on the type of fire) and hydrants fitted with hoses and connected to a pressure water system.
The efficiency of these facilities is ensured by constant maintenance and checks that occur within specific deadlines.
Aboard each ship firefighting teams exist, composed of staff especially trained and possess the necessary skills, which carry out regular exercises. In addition, all crew members are educated about how to behave in case you detect fire or smoke, fire equipment and procedures to be adopted, through specific courses and practical exercises.
These measures have made it possible to readily put under control and extinguish the fire sprigionatosi in Costa Allegra local generators.
(2/28/12) 7:00am: The Costa Allegra is now being towed towards Desroches Island by the small French fishing vessel, Trevignon. They are expected to arrive at the island Early Wednesday morning.
(2/27/12) 8:00pm: It is now being reported that fresh food will be flown to the Costa Allegra via helicopter sometime early Tuesday. The ship is currently without any kind of cooking facilities, so basic, non-perishable food will be brought on board. Tugs and the coast guard are still in route to the ship and should be arriving mid day on Tuesday.
(2/27/12) 6:40pm: New statement from Costa…
The deep-sea fishing vessel arrived at the place where Costa Allegra, and 2 commanders are in contact by radio.
At dawn (local time) we will evaluate the operations of assistance that the deep-sea fishing vessel can provide.
(2/27/12) 4:35pm: New statement from Costa…
The first boat to reach the Costa Allegra in the next few hours is a deep-sea fishing vessel of 90 meters flying the French flag. I am sailing to Costa Allegra another ship of the same size, 2 cargo ships and tugs 2, the latter expected to arrive tomorrow afternoon.
When the first ship commander will decide how to act depending on weather conditions and the ship itself.
The ship is currently stable and safe.
Costa Cruises is contacting the families of the guests through the emergency numbers available and the family of Italian and European crew members, while the families of the crew members are contacted by the European structures local recruitment.
Costa Allegra is in possession of all certifications required under the national and international. Also in October 2011 was carried out regular maintenance of the ship in dry dock.
(2/27/12) 2:30pm: The Costa Allegra is now adrift in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar following an engine room fire earlier today. The ship is currently without any lights as they are using all power to keep essential machinery going. The local coast guard and tug boats have been dispatched to the ship and are expected to arrive late Tuesday. The area the ship is currently in right now is known for pirate activity. This is now the latest setback for Cost Cruises following the Costa Concordia tragedy in January . We will update this story as it continues to develop.
Statement from Costa…
10:00am EST: Costa Cruises confirms that today at 10:39 CET a fire broke out on board Costa Allegra in the electric generator room. The shipboard fire-extinguishing system and emergency procedures were activated promptly and special fire-fighting squads extinguished the fire.
The fire did not spread to any other area of the ship. There were no injuries or casualties. Inspections of the engine room are ongoing to determine if the equipment can be restarted.
As a precaution, the general emergency alarm was sounded and all passengers and crewmembers not engaged in the management of the emergency reported to their muster stations.
Currently the ship is more than 200 miles southwest of the Seychelles and approximately 20 miles from Alphonse Island. Tugboats and other naval and aerial units have been dispatched to Costa Allegra.
According to standard procedures, Costa Allegra transmitted a distress signal and the relevant authorities were alerted, including the Maritime Rescue Control Center in Rome, Italy. Costa Crociere and the relevant authorities are actively the situation.
On board Costa Allegra are 636 passengers of various nationalities and 413 crewmembers.
The ship departed Saturday, Feb. 25, from Diego Suarez, Madagascar, and was cruising toward the port of Victoria (Mahè, Seychelles) where it was scheduled to arrive tomorrow Feb. 28.
2 replies on “Costa Allegra Adrift At Sea After Fire – Updates”
This is the last thing the cruise industry needs right now, Costa was in quite a deep hole from the Concordia, but now this??
It’s too bad.
[…] Close to all of these new policies are already implanted worldwide across all cruise lines. Over the past few months, the cruise industry has done a pretty good job of implanting new safety policies to further increase our safety on board their ships. Even though there have been a few other minor incidents since the Concordia, there hasn’t been a death linked to the incidents, such as the Silversea Shadow collision and the Costa Allegra fire. […]