Costa Allegra towed to safety

The Seychelles tourism authority said that the cruise ship, owned by the same company as that which operated the Costa Concordia, was being towed to a nearby island after drifting in the Indian Ocean.

Seychelles Tourism Authority Chief Executive Alain St Ange said the ship was being towed to Desroches Island where there is a luxury resort which will allow passengers to clean up before being flown to Mahe.

But, St Ange said that there may be insufficient accommodation and flights out of Seychelles on Mahe, the main island in the Seychelles archipelago, due to heavy bookings due to an international carnival due to start on Friday.

Arrangements were being made for Costa Allegra’s passengers and crew to be flown out of the country but it may take a couple of days for this to take place due to limited flights out of the archipelago. 

While in the Indian Ocean, the Italian Costa Allegra cruise ship experienced an engine room fire while carrying more than 1,000 passengers on board.

No injuries were reported and the fire was contained but the ship lost power and had been drifting at sea about 20miles off Alphonse Island in the Indian Ocean.

The Costa Concordia had run aground off of Giglio in January with the lost of at least 25 lives.