A fire broke out on a cruise ship off the Bahamas

An exhaust funnel on a cruise ship caught fire off the coast of the Bahamas on Saturday and fell to the deck. Two firefighters suffered minor smoke inhalation.

A fire broke out on a cruise ship belonging to an American shipping company in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of one of the Bahamas islands. An exhaust funnel from the “Carnival Freedom” caught fire Saturday afternoon (local time) on board the ship sailing off the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas and part of it fell to the deck of the ship, Carnival Cruise Line told the German news agency. According to current information, none of the guests were injured, although two firefighters suffered from minor smoke inhalation.

The fire was extinguished after about two hours – also because the captain turned the ship so that the heavy rain that was falling at the time helped the fire protection team on board to extinguish it. The ship can continue sailing and is expected to arrive in Freeport in the Bahamas on Sunday morning.

The investigation into the causes of the fire is still ongoing. The cruise company cited eyewitness reports that a lightning strike may have been responsible for the fire. According to the shipping company, the ship “Freedom” includes 1,490 passenger cabins on 13 decks. It was initially unclear how many passengers were on board the plane at the time of the fire.

SDA/dmu