The U.S. Coast Guard said it transported 3,000 pounds of equipment, including a generator and electrical cables, to the stranded, 893-foot Carnival Triumph cruise ship this afternoon.
A Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile MH-60 helicopter crew transported the equipment from an offshore supply vessel, Lana Rose. The Coast Guard said that the generator will be used to help provide extra power to the ship.
The Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous arrived by the ship, in the Gulf of Mexico, Sunday night and began escorting it and the tugboats to Mobile, Ala. Monday evening. The Coast Guard said they will escort it safely into port. The ship was 108 nautical miles south of the Port of Mobile this afternoon.
The Triumph encountered an engine room fire while on a 4-day cruise, according to the Coast Guard. The ship's automatic fire extinguishing system put out the fire and no injuries to guests or the crew were reported.
Meanwhile, guests are reporting deplorable conditions. Passenger Donna Gutzman told NBC News, "The worst part is the bathrooms. There’s no water. You can’t really flush so everyone's going in little plastic baggies and putting it outside their rooms."
The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the cause of the engine room fire Tuesday. The Coast Guard said that the Bahamas Maritime Authority is the primary investigative agency since the Triumph is a Bahamian flagged vessel. They said that in accordance with international guidelines, the United States will participate in the investigation as a "Marine Safety Investigative State."
In their press release Tuesday, the Coast Guard said, "The purpose of the investigation is to identify causal and contributing factors that led to the incident. Additionally both the crew response and effectiveness of fire fighting systems will be evaluated to help prevent future incidents."
They said that the U.S. team will arrive in Mobile on Wednesday and that they will release the investigation's results once the Bahamas Maritime Authority's investigation is complete.
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