Coast Guard: Leak Caused Cruise Ship Fire

Faulty fuel line said to spark fire
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 18, 2013 2:19 PM CST
Coast Guard: Leak Caused Cruise Ship Fire
The cruise ship Carnival Triumph is towed up the Mobile River in Mobile, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. The ship with more than 4,200 passengers and crew members has been idled for nearly a week in the Gulf of Mexico following an engine room fire.   (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

The cause of the engine-room fire on the Carnival cruise ship Triumph was a leak in a fuel oil return line, says a Coast Guard official. In a teleconference today, Cmdr. Theresa Hatfield estimated that the investigation of the disabled ship would take six months. She said the Bahamas is leading the investigation, with the Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board leading US interests in the probe.

She said investigators have been with the ship since it arrived Thursday in Mobile, and interviews have been conducted with passengers and crew. The ship left Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 7 for a four-day trip to Mexico. The fire paralyzed the ship on Feb. 10, leaving it adrift in the Gulf of Mexico until tugboats towed it to Mobile. (More cruise ships stories.)

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