NEW YORK TIMES: Dramatic videos emerged on social media Thursday, showing flames and thick black smoke pouring out of the smokestack of a Carnival Cruise ship in the Turks and Caicos.
The cruise line confirmed that a part of Carnival Freedom caught fire after the ship docked at Grand Turk.
“Carnival Freedom’s emergency response team quickly activated and extinguished a fire inside the ship’s funnel while the ship was in Grand Turk,” company spokesperson Matt Lupoli told The Post in a statement. “All guests and crew are safe, and the ship’s guests were cleared by local authorities to go ashore.”
No injuries were reported and the ship was not evacuated during the emergency. The cause of the fire remains unknown at this time.
Still photos and cellphone recordings that have been circulating on Twitter depicted smoke billowing from the right fin of the smokestack, painted red, white and blue, as reported by ClickOrlando.
Carnival Freedom set sail from Port Canaveral, Florida, on May 23 on a five-day cruise. It is scheduled to return Saturday.
Carnival Freedom was launched in 2007. It measures 952 feet in length, has 13 decks and can accommodate up to 2,980 passengers and 1,150 crew.
At the time of the fire, the vessel was carrying about 2,500 passengers and 1,100 crew members, according to the cruise line.
Passenger Jenny Fleming told Florida Today that she and her mother were drinking coffee on a balcony as Carnival Freedom was docking at Grand Turk at around 7:30 a.m. local time, when some people on an adjacent ship, Carnival Mardi Gras, alerted them to the fire.
“Mom runs inside and calls 911, and we were apparently the first to report it,” Fleming said.
Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control, and the passengers got the all-clear at around 8:40 a.m.
The fire was reported around the same time as another Carnival Cruise ship, Carnival Magic, docked in Norfolk, Virginia, after passengers began vomiting and complaining of nausea caused by a chemical smell.
Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua!
We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.
Contact us at [email protected]
