Fire on Pullmantur Cruise Ship

[pmfan]

August 18, 2009

Swedish Reports: Fire on Pullmantur Cruise Ship in Stockholm (10:23 a.m. EDT) -- A fire broke out today aboard Spain-based Pullmantur Cruises' Zenith while it was berthed in Stockholm, according to cruisebusiness.com, the Web site for trade publication Cruise Business Review.

 

Citing a story in Swedish paper Aftonbladet, cruisebusiness.com reports that two people were taken to the hospital after smoke inhalation. According to Aftonbladet, via cruisebusiness.com, emergency services received a call about the fire at 2:37 p.m. local time; it is estimated some 600 people were onboard at the time (the 47,255-ton vessel accommodates 1,440 passengers at double occupancy).

 

Spokespersons for Pullmantur and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (Pullmantur's parent company) did not have additional information to share at press time. Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez could not confirm, based on the preliminary details available, whether there was indeed a fire or just smoke.

 

Zenith formerly sailed for Celebrity Cruises; it was built for the line in 1992. Zenith left Celebrity in 2007 following Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s acquisition of Pullmantur, and joined the Spanish line's fleet after a major refurbishment.

[kauppias]

Local papers here (I live in Finland :) ) were citing eye witnesses that people were jumping off the ship into the water so I am guessing there was more then a little smoke... the Zenith was supposed to go to tallinn and then here to Finland but I guess it wont be making those ports soon.. Scary even if it was in port... I was just in that same pier a while ago on the vision...

 

 

Glad the toll wasnt higher with only a few hospitalized.

[DEIx15x8]

I was reading this story on another forum and things do not add up. The fire was started by two welders working in an enclosed space. They also tried to put the fire out and suffered smoke inhalation. They were the only two reportedly taken to the hospital. The fire was out within a short time yet people jumped overboard? If a ship was in the ocean I would not jump over, if it was in a dock it makes even less sense as you could walk to safety. Its not like jumping overboard is safe, you can get seriously hurt if you hit wrong and even die.

 

So we have a small fire, a safe port, no passenger injuries (or even smoke issues), yet people jumping overboard.

[sidari]

Newspapaer sensationalism ..... it sells newspapers!! .... strange the story of people jumping off the ship appeared in Finland but not in Sweden !!... :rolleyes:

[Norwegianlatvian]

"strange the story of people jumping off the ship appeared in Finland but not in Sweden"

 

..dear swedish neighbours, please arrest me if I am wrong, but it was reported like that in Aftonbladet at once as well. And Aftonbladet is one of the biggest newspapers in Sweden, at least in Stockholm.

 

Actually in norwegian newspapers as well.

[lisiamc]

An English-language Swedish newspaper http://www.thelocal.se/21542/20090818/ described Zenith as a ferry, so you can't believe everything you read!

 

Lisa

[sverigecruiser]

"strange the story of people jumping off the ship appeared in Finland but not in Sweden"

 

..dear swedish neighbours, please arrest me if I am wrong, but it was reported like that in Aftonbladet at once as well. And Aftonbladet is one of the biggest newspapers in Sweden, at least in Stockholm.

 

Actually in norwegian newspapers as well.

 

Aftonbladet is a big paper but that doesn't necessary mean that it's a serious paper! Today's Expressen, about the same size as Aftonbladet, didn't even mentioned the fire and they would if people had jumped off the ship! The TV news yesterday didn't mentioned any jumping either!