Passengers of the Azamara Quest cruise liner panics after engine room fire

This is a notice to all those who want to go on holiday in luxury cruise liners – leave your will and last testament on the shore before you board the ship.

The luxury cruise liner Azamara Quest with a 700- strong holiday crowd was on a 17-night voyage from Hong Kong to Singapore. Each passenger had paid 2500-pounds sterling for the journey. Suddenly, there was a fire in its engine room and the ship went adrift in the seas off the coast of Malaysia.

The captain immediately ordered the evacuation procedure but the fire was brought under control and the ship went into the emergency backup generator mode. The engineers were able to restore the essential air conditioning, running water and toilet plumbing but the engine remained dead.

The ship owned by Royal Caribbean International, an American company based in Miami, would be drifting till power was restored in the engine room.

Travel by luxury cruise liners brings to memory the sad incidents of the Costa Concordia in which the ship was lost and 30 passengers died. This was followed by the fire in the engine room of the Costa Allegra several weeks later which left it stranded in the Indian Ocean.