The Carnival Splendor (a 952-foot Panamanian-flagged ship
carrying 3,299 guests and 1,167 crew members) is currently stranded 130 miles of
the coast of Mexico after losing power.
The vessel lost power at approximately 6:00 a.m. Monday,
November 8, 2010, following a fire in its aft engine room. The blaze was extinguished without
injury to passengers or crew. However, engineers have not been able to restore
power to the ship, which has been operating on auxiliary generators since the
fire. Several key hotel systems,
including air conditioning, hot food service and telephones remain out of
service.
At the request of the U.S. Coast Guard in San Diego, the
Navy diverted the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan from training maneuvers to assist the
Carnival Splendor. Earlier
Tuesday, the aircraft carrier was receiving by airlift thirty-five pallets (containing
10,000 pounds of food and supplies) for the cruise ship, with which it is
scheduled to rendezvous Tuesday afternoon.
Additionally, tugboats are en route to the ship to tow the
vessel the 130 miles to Ensenada, Mexico and are expected to arrive sometime
Tuesday.