Engine Room Fire Inside Cruise Ship ‘Insignia’ Leaves Three People Dead


A fire inside the engine room of a cruise ship has reportedly left three people dead, reports the International Business Times. The ship, christened “Insignia,” is reportedly owned by the Miami based company Oceania Cruises. According to the SunSentinel, the ship was docked in St. Lucia when the tragedy occurred. The three dead individuals were all working inside the engine room of the ship when disaster struck. At this moment the identities of the dead have not been revealed. While two of the dead workers were hired on contract, one person who succumbed to his injuries was a crew member working with Oceania Cruises. This has been confirmed by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, the parent company that owns Oceania Cruises.

The fire broke out on the Insignia at around 8:30 a.m local time. All the passengers on board the ship, with a capacity of 684 people, were evacuated and are safe, the owners of the ship confirmed. The blaze inside the engine room of the Insignia was contained within minutes and was extinguished. However, it was too late for three people who were inside the engine room at that time. While they were quickly transferred to a local medical facility, their lives could not be saved. Two other crew members who were also reportedly inside the Insignia’s engine room at the time were transported to a hospital for a check up.

Said the owners of the Insignia in a release,

“We are deeply saddened to learn that two contractors and one crew member did not survive. We extend our deepest condolences to their families during this very difficult time. The remainder of the cruise has been canceled.”

The Insignia was in the midst of a 10-day cruise from San Juan in Puerto Rico to Miami in Florida. It left Puerto Rico on December and was scheduled to dock at Miami on December 17. Guests who were made to de-board the Insignia were provided accommodation at local hotels until being provided transportation to Miami, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings confirmed. The company has also dispatched a guest and crew support team to St. Lucia to get the vessel back to working condition and to ensure that all passengers are taken care of.

The accident inside the engine room of the Insignia came a few weeks after the Inquisitr had reported about another cruise ship mishap in which several people inside a cruise ship reported symptoms of a norovirus infection. In another cruise ship related tragedy, an elderly gentleman was lost at sea after he reportedly fell off a cruise ship off the Australian coast. Looks like this is generally a bad time to be on board a cruise ship!

[image Via Sun-Sentinel]

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