Carnival Knew of Cruise Ship Fire Risks Prior to Sailing - Court Documents

The doomed Carnival Triumph cruise ship that lost power at sea in February and left 4,000 passengers stranded without working toilets was reportedly inundated with safety and technical issues before it set sail.

The luxury vessel, now affectionately hailed as the “Poop Cruise” after people onboard were forced to live amidst their own waste for days, only had four of its six generators working at the time of departure. Carnival knew about the fire hazard posed by the generators, according to newly-disclosed company documents obtained exclusively by CNN, as lawsuits are pending against the cruise line.

The generator that caught fire and caused the outage had been overdue for maintenance for over a year, and was not in compliance with maritime safety laws.

The documents also reveal that the company was aware of the fuel line leaks that contributed to the fire, since similar problems had been present on other Carnival ships. The documents show that there had been 9 incidents with fuel lines in just 2 years, confirmed CNN.

With the ship aimlessly drifting for four days, passengers had no air conditioning, and barely any lights, food, water, or working toilets. Carnival stated that the fine print on passengers’ tickets “makes absolutely no guarantee for safe passage, a seaworthy vessel, adequate and wholesome food, and sanitary and safe living conditions.”