Cruise with 4,500 on board adrift in Pacific

Thousands of passengers on a luxury cruise to the Mexican Riviera are stranded in the Pacific Ocean

The Carnival Splendor, with 3,300 passengers on board, was disabled after an engine room fire. The ship also has nearly 1,200 crewmembers

A Wall Street Journal report said that the ship, which departed from Long Beach, Calif., Sunday on a seven-day voyage to the Mexican Riviera, was about 200 miles south of San Diego when a fire ignited in the engine room, cutting off power, telephone service and air conditioning.

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CNN quoted Navy pilot Tamara Graham and Chief Petty Officer Steve Sinclair as saying that they made 15 round trips from the USS Ronald Reagan to the stranded cruise ship.

'When we first showed up on scene, (passengers) were taking pictures, and flash bulbs were going off everywhere,' Sinclair said, adding, 'Once we dropped our equipment, we were getting a lot of waves.'

'I am pretty sure that was not on the programme for the Carnival cruise to have helicopters onboard and have an aircraft carrier nearby,' Graham said.

Meanwhile, media agencies quoted company spokeswoman as saying that the Splendor normally carried enough food and water to last at least a week, but ran short because the ship had lost its refrigeration.

Despite some remaining power provided by auxiliary generators, the air conditioning, hot food service and telephones on the ship also were knocked out.

But engineers managed to restore toilet service to all cabins and restrooms Monday night.

The blaze took about three hours to put out.

"Given the ship's speed and current position, we have decided to take the vessel to San Diego where it is expected to arrive late Thursday," Carnival said in a statement.

"Additionally, we are in the process of making all the necessary hotel and flight arrangements for our guests."