Wednesday, February 29, 2012
A British mother did not think disaster could strike twice until the cruise ship her daughter was working on was cast adrift just weeks after her son survived the capsizing of the Costa Concordia.
Jayne Thomas has had no news from her daughter Rebecca, who was working on the Costa Allegra as a dancer, since a fire broke out on board on Monday.
She said she is more at ease now the vessel is being towed to safety, but never thought she would be in a similar position to when news came through that the Costa Concordia, the ship her 19-year-old son was working on, capsized on Jan 13.
Speaking from her home in the town of Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, she told the BBC she "didn’t think anything like this could happen again".
"I thought it was a one-off and we wouldn’t be going through this experience again. I really didn’t think disaster could strike twice. Of all the ships that are sailing in the ocean, the two that have come into difficulties in the last few weeks have been the two that my children were on."
Mrs Thomas said she had tried emailing her daughter but, because of the loss of power on board the liner, she had not heard anything since a message before the fire.
"We have no information at all other than what’s coming through on the television and press. We can do nothing apart from wait, and just wait for information to be relayed to us."
Even though her 19-year-old son James was still recovering from the mental trauma he sustained when the Concordia ran aground last month in the Mediterranean, she said she did not feel any ill will towards Costa Cruises, the company that owns both the Concordia and the Allegra.
"I have no feelings towards the company," she said. "I think it’s just a twist of fate that they’ve both been involved in two such unfortunate incidents."
Mrs Thomas said her daughter joined the Costa Allegra last May and was due to stay on until July.
The ship was making its way back to Europe, having spent three months in the Indian Ocean when the blaze broke out.
She said James had no wish to return to working on cruise ships since the Concordia disaster, when the ship struck rocks off the west coast of Italy on Jan 13, leaving a death toll expected to reach 32.
"He’s fine physically," she said. "Mentally, it’s taken its toll. He doesn’t want to get back on a ship any time soon even though he has been offered further contracts with cruise companies. Unfortunately, he’s had to turn them down because he doesn’t feel ready to get back on a ship."
She said she would not try to advise or persuade either of her children against getting back on cruise ships but would leave the decision up to them.
She added: "I’m not sure about Rebecca. We’ll find out about her experience when she gets home.
"Hopefully, they will fly home very soon and she’ll make a decision about whether she rejoins the ship or not."
The crippled cruise liner being towed in the Indian Ocean with more than 1,000 on board and no air conditioning, will not reach land in the Seychelles until tomorrow.
The cruise ship company said food, satellite phones and VHF radios would be brought to the Costa Allegra by helicopter.
The Costa Allegra has 636 passengers and 413 crew members on board.
Among them are 212 Italian, 31 British and eight US passengers. Four of the passengers are children aged three or younger.
The ship lost power after a fire in its generator room, which knocked out the ship’s engines, lights and its air conditioning.
Cruise ship officials had said that they would be taking stranded passengers to Desroches, a small, exclusive coral-lined island in the Seychelles.
However, they later said that they would instead bring them to the main Seychelles island of Mahe.
The cruise ship company said the change was done for safety and logistical reasons, and that the Allegra would reach Mahe early tomorrow. Two tug boats have joined a French fishing vessel to tow the cruise ship.
No-one was injured in the fire on Monday, but the blaze set the cruise liner adrift at sea in a region where Somali pirates prey on ships.
Italian coastguard officials said generators were keeping the ship’s control room illuminated as well as communications equipment such as radios running.
The Costa Allegra — whose Italian name means "merry" or "happy" — had left northern Madagascar, off Africa’s south-east coast, on Saturday. It was cruising toward Port Victoria when the fire broke out.
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