An Italian cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board is without power in the Indian Ocean following a fire. The Costa Allegra is adrift more than 200 miles southwest of the Seychelles, near Alphonse Island.
The ship is from the same fleet as the Costa Concordia, which capsized off the Italian coast in January, killing 32.
Costa Cruises said in a statement that the fire broke out in the electric generators' room.
It did not spread and there were no injuries or casualties. Inspections of the state of the engine room are on-going, the company says. Tugs and "other naval and aerial units" will reach the ship, which has sent out a distress signal, Costa Cruises says.
Commander Cosimo Nicastro of the Italian coast guard told the BBC that it took the crew a few hours to extinguish the fire. Although the ship is in the middle of the Indian Ocean, there are no problems for the passengers, he said The Seychelles' maritime authority is sending a ship, power boats and aircraft to the Costa Allegra because she cannot move. They probably need to tow the ship to a Seychelles port, he said.
There are 636 passengers and 413 crew on board the Costa Allegra, which left Madagascar on Saturday. It was due to arrive in the Seychelles on Tuesday. The Costa Concordia ran aground off the Italian island of Giglio on 13 January. The Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, has been accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before all those aboard were evacuated. He denies any wrongdoing.
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