A fire related cruise ship accident occurred off the coast of
Mexico on November 8, 2010, when the vessel Carnival
Splendor suffered a mechanical failure of its number five
diesel generator. The U.S. Coast Guard issued its final report
on its investigation of the cause of the maritime incident. The
fire caused engine components to be ejected through the
engine casing, causing a fire that disabled the cruise ship
when it ignited cables. Although the fire was not
catastrophically large, it produced large amounts of smoke,
which impeded the efforts of response teams to locate and
extinguish it. It took the fire response teams about two hours
to locate the fire in the cable runs.

Fortunately, the accidental cruise ship fire did not result in
injuries or fatalities. The Carnival Splendor reached the port of
San Diego on November 11, 2010. As a result of the fire and
initial finding of investigators, the Coast Guard issued two
safety alerts covering the operation, testing, and maintenance
of shipboard CO2 firefighting systems. As a result, Carnival
Cruise Line has removed the 40 second time delay from the
automatic sequence for the Hi-Fog System, and has
implemented short and long term solutions to address
problems involving the activation of the CO2 systems (USCG)

In February 2013, another Carnival vessel, the Triumph
suffered a fire while steaming in the Gulf of Mexico. See
Carnival Triumph fire. Cruise ship fires are a recognized
cause of injuries to cruise ship passengers, either directly, or
indirectly, as a result of exposure to smoke from fuels, oils,
solvents, or other flammable materials. On June 25, 2013, the
cruise ship Zenith, operated by Pullmantur Cruise Line,
suffered a fire while steaming off Italy with 1672 passengers
and 600 crewmembers aboard. The ship was originally owned
by Celebrity Cruises, but now owned by Pullmantur, a
subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. In February 2012,
the cruise ship Costa Allegra, operated by Costa Cruise Line,
suffered a small fire and lost power as a result
(maritimematters.com).


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