More than 3,000 passengers aboard a cruise ship stranded in the Gulf of Mexico have limited access to bathrooms and food as they waited for tugboats to arrive to tow them to Mexico.
The Carnival Triumph has been floating aimlessly about 150 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula since a fire erupted in the aft engine room early Sunday, knocking out the ship’s propulsion system.
No one was injured, and the fire was extinguished.
The ship has been operating on backup-generator power since the incident, Carnival said.
Another Carnival cruise ship, the Legend, rendezvoused with the stranded vessel yesterday, supplying Triumph passengers with food and supplies.
Texas resident Brent Nutt chatted by cellphone with his wife, Bethany. Some of the bathrooms are working, but the ship is dirty, Nutt said his wife told him.
“The whole boat stinks extremely bad,” she said.
Carnival said it canceled the Triumph’s next two voyages. And passengers aboard the stranded ship, which is expected to arrive in Mexico tomorrow, will receive a full refund.