Luxury liner goes up in smoke {Princess}

[wovenwonder]

We know how excited we are doing our 'countdowns' for our cruises. Think how dissappointed these Princess Cruise planners must be........

Luxury liner goes up in smoke




NAGASAKI -- One of the largest luxury liners under construction at a local shipyard has been gutted in a spectacular 19-hour inferno, authorities said Wednesday.

The fire was extinguished at around 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The extent of damage to the 113,000-ton Diamond Princess remains unknown, although it is believed about 80 percent of its interior has been completed burned out.

"We are all devastated. We don't know at the moment whether we can repair the damage and continue working on the vessel or start again from scratch," said Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. spokesman Naoki Yasaka. He added that the damage sustained would be covered by insurance.

Nagasaki Prefectural Police officials said the fire broke out on the fifth deck of Diamond Princess, which Mitsubishi was commissioned to build by British firm P&O Princess Cruise. About 1,000 construction workers were inside Diamond Princess but they managed to escape unharmed.

The Nagasaki Fire Department dispatched 42 fire engines and several fireboats to the scene but firemen were prevented from entering the fume-filled liner. "Compared to normal buildings on dry land, the ship's structure was terribly complicated. Moreover, it was filled with dangerous fumes," a fire department official said.

Sprinklers had not yet been fitted, Mitsubishi officials said.

The blaze slowly spread to the upper decks and consumed some 51,000-square meters of floor space on 10 decks by the time firefighters had brought it under control.

The 290 by 37.5-meter ship was launched on May 25 this year at Mitsubishi's Nagasaki Shipyard & Machine Works and was anchored at the time of the blaze. Diamond Princess was designed to accommodate 3,100 passengers in 1,337 cabins, four-thirds of them with balconies. It also has a banquet hall, a casino and an indoor pool and was due to be delivered in May 2003.

Nagasaki Shipyard & Machine Works is one of Japan's oldest shipyards. It was originally opened by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1857 and is known for building the Imperial Japanese Navy's Musashi, which was the biggest battleship ever to be built with 72,000 tons displacement, and 17-inch armor plating and nine 18.1-inch guns. (Mainichi Shimbun, Oct. 2, 2002)

 

[thebrownboys]

Sad to hear but must have been some ship...since four thirds of the rooms had balconys. Thought only Disney had magic!! LOL

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I was wondering just exactly how many four-thirds was too!

That's such a shame - just glad everyone got out o.k.

 

[wovenwonder]

Sad to hear but must have been some ship...since four thirds of the rooms had balconys. Thought only Disney had magic!! LOL



LOL -- I noticed that also! Must have been confused in their interpretation as I believe this was a Japan newspaper report.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

I'm glad nobody was hurt... and I'm also glad I'm not the insurance underwriter on that project!!!

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

I agree with you completely Dave - can we say scrap and start over? If I were the insurance carrier I'd be really concerned about the structural integrity of the steel after all that heat!

Deb