Blast Injures 17 on Cruise Ship; 900 Flee to Isle

MIAMI —  An explosion ignited a fire aboard a cruise ship anchored off a tiny Bahamian island Wednesday, injuring 17 aboard and forcing the lifeboat evacuation of more than 900 passengers.

The morning explosion, which occurred in an engineer’s storeroom on the seventh deck of the luxury liner Emerald Seas, sent black smoke billowing through part of the ship as passengers were lowered over the side.

The Emerald Seas, which is registered in Panama, was anchored less than a mile off Little Stirrup Cay, about 50 miles north of Nassau. Some of the 987 passengers were already on deck, preparing for a day’s outing on the privately owned island, when the explosion occurred. They reportedly heard screams as others, in their cabins, opened their doors to find dense smoke that blackened their faces and clothes as they rushed to safety on deck.

Passengers Reboard

The crew quickly extinguished the fire and, after the passengers had lunch ashore, they were allowed to reboard late Wednesday for the return to Miami, cutting their four-day cruise short by one day.

The U.S. Coast Guard said five injured persons had been lifted from the ship by helicopter and flown to Miami for treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Later in the day, 12 others, five of whom were first treated in Nassau, were flown here.

Hospital and Coast Guard spokesmen said 15 of the injured were passengers and two were members of the ship’s crew. None were seriously hurt.

Chief Petty Officer Bob Baeten, a Coast Guard spokesman, said that the Coast Guard and representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board will examine the vessel when it returns to Miami today, in an attempt to determine the cause of the explosion.

“We’ll conduct an investigation when she arrives in port,” Baeten said. “We want to find out what happened, to prevent it in the future. She will not be allowed to sail until they have made full repairs and all the firefighting equipment has been charged up.”

Bernard A. Chabot, the president of Eastern Cruise Lines, which operates the Emerald Seas, said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon that there was no information yet on the cause of the explosion.

No Hint of Sabotage

“We don’t know what kind of explosion it was or what was in the locker at the time,” he said. “But I have no reason to suspect sabotage at this time.”

The lockers on the seventh deck are normally used to store tools and engine parts. Chabot said he and members of his staff also would examine the vessel for clues and consult with the captain and chief engineer.

“But, first, I’ll give them a pat on the back for a job well done,” he said.

Reports from the liner said that there was an initial panic among the passengers as the black smoke poured through the corridors but that calm was restored in a matter of minutes and the evacuation was orderly. There had been a fire drill only the day before.

Dives From Porthole

(The Associated Press reported from Little Stirrup Cay that soot and several broken portholes could be seen on the ship and that passengers said one crew member had been cut when he broke a galley porthole about 30 feet above the water level and dived into the sea. It quoted Bill Peacock, 29, of Raleigh, N.C. as saying: “The upper decks were filled with smoke. I ran downstairs to find my wife, but it was too dark.” His wife found her way to the deck by herself, he said.)

Chabot said the ship’s fire squad put out the fire in minutes but that the ship’s captain, Michel Lachtaridis, decided to put the passengers into lifeboats as a safety measure.

A Coast Guard jet, five helicopters and two cutters were sent to the scene, and the Coast Guard boarded the Emerald Seas to confirm that the fire was out. To aid smoke inhalation victims, the Coast Guard ferried oxygen supplied by the Metro-Dade County Fire Department.

The 24,458-ton Emerald Seas was rebuilt and refurbished in 1985 and was carrying a crew of 395. The ship, built in 1944, was formerly called the President Roosevelt and the Atlantis.

Chabot said the explosion caused damage to the ship’s electrical system, affecting the galley, laundry facilities and ice-making machines, but he said he was certain the damage could be repaired before the ship’s next cruise, scheduled to begin Friday.

A Few Cancellations

He said there had been a few cancellations since the incident.

“It’s always a shame when something like this happens,” he said. “Some people will always be afraid because of this.”

The fire was the first for a Miami-based ship since Aug. 20, 1984, when a music teacher and a crew member were killed aboard the Scandinavian Sun. Smoke from an electrical fire filled the ship as it was returning to Miami on a one-day cruise.

Researcher Lorna Nones in Miami contributed to this report.