Costa Allegra - update

[Phil]

Costa Allegra - update

Monday, February 27th 2012 Time 11.00 pm (CET)

As of 10pm tonight, after having contacted all the 627 passengers contact emergency numbers, Costa Crociere reached families/relatives of 402 passengers on a total of 627 (excluded the 9 italian marines onboard for security reasons).
All the crew families/relatives have been contacted directly by the Company or through the manning agent.

Time 10.00 pm (CET)
The first boat expected to reach Costa Allegra during the next few hours is a French-flagged, 295-foot-long (90 meters) ocean-going fishing ship. Another ship of similar size currently is sailing toward Costa Allegra and will join two merchant ships and two tugboats expected to arrive tomorrow afternoon.
Upon arrival of the first ship, its captain will decide how to operate, depending on weather and ship conditions, to best support Costa Allegra.
Currently, Costa Allegra is steady and conditions are safe.
Costa Cruises is keeping in touch with guests' families via their emergency-contact numbers. The line also is communicating with the families of crew, most of whom are Italian and eastern European, through local crew-recruiting organizations.
Costa Allegra is in compliance with all certificates required by both national and international regulations. Moreover, in October 2011 the ship received its regularly scheduled maintenance in dry dock.

Time 6.30 pm (CET)
The number 954-266-5693 is active.

Time 4.00 pm (CET)
Costa Cruises confirms that today at 10:39 CET a fire broke out on board Costa Allegra in the electric generator room. The shipboard fire-extinguishing system and emergency procedures were activated promptly and special fire-fighting squads extinguished the fire.
The fire did not spread to any other area of the ship. There were no injuries or casualties. Inspections of the engine room are ongoing to determine if the equipment can be restarted.

As a precaution, the general emergency alarm was sounded and all passengers and crewmembers not engaged in the management of the emergency reported to their muster stations.
Currently the ship is more than 200 miles southwest of the Seychelles and approximately 20 miles from Alphonse Island. Tugboats and other naval and aerial units have been dispatched to Costa Allegra.
According to standard procedures, Costa Allegra transmitted a distress signal and the relevant authorities were alerted, including the Maritime Rescue Control Center in Rome, Italy. Costa Crociere and the relevant authorities are actively the situation.

On board Costa Allegra are 636 passengers of various nationalities and 413 crewmembers.
The ship departed Saturday, Feb. 25, from Diego Suarez, Madagascar, and was cruising toward the port of Victoria (Mahè, Seychelles) where it was scheduled to arrive tomorrow Feb. 28.

     NATIONALITY    NUMBER OF GUESTS
     ITALIAN    135
     FRENCH    127
     AUSTRIAN    97
     SWISS    90
     GERMAN    38
     BRITISH    31
     MAURITIAN    15
     RUSSIAN    15
     SPANISH    15
     CANADIAN    13
     BELGIAN    13
     SLOVENIAN    12
     AMERICAN    8
     CROATIAN    6
     CZECH    4
     LATVIAN    3
     PORTUGUESE    2
     POLISH    2
     ROMANIAN    2
     BRAZILIAN    2
     HUNGARIAN    2
     LUXEMBOURGER    1
     ALGERIAN    1
     URUGUAYAN    1
     IRISH    1
     GRAND TOTAL    636