Costa Concordia sister ship adrift after fire aboard Passengers, crew unharmed by flames in engine room 
 
 (ANSA) - Rome, February 27 - A sister ship of the Italian Costa Concordia cruise liner was adrift about 260 miles from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean Monday after a fire broke out on board.All 1,049 passengers and crew were reportedly unharmed aboard the 28,500-ton Costa Allegra, four times smaller than the liner that ran aground off the coast of Giglio Island in January, killing over two dozen people."There are no safety concerns," Claudio Izzi, consul of the Seychelles, told ANSA. "The fire was extinguished. The ship had departed from Mauritius en route to Seychelles where it should arrive tomorrow morning at 8:00". Ship engines were turned off after flames reportedly broke out in the engine room and were put out before reaching other parts of the ship, Costa said. The ship is currently in black-out mode and awaiting towing with energy use limited to emergency-battery power in the cabin area, according to the Port Authority. Italy has directed three commercial ships and two fishing boats for rescue operations and the Seychelles have sent two tugboats, a ship and an airplane. Costa said it had dispatched its own ships to help with the rescue. ||||| A cruise ship run by the owners of the Costa Concordia is adrift in the Indian Ocean, with more than 1,000 passengers and crew stranded after a fire in the ship's engine room. 
 
 Costa Cruises said no injuries had been reported on the Costa Allegra after the blaze, which was put out before it spread to other areas of the ship. A spokesman said 31 Britons were on board. 
 
 A fishing boat was due to arrive with supplies by 3am and tugs will reach the ship by around 7pm on Tuesday to tow it to the Seychelles, the Italian coast guard said. "The passengers are fine," said Cosimo Nicastro of the Italian coastguard. 
 
 The accident – possibly caused by an electrical fault according to one company source – will further damage the reputation of Costa Cruises, which is already facing multiple law suits after the Costa Concordia crashed into rocks in Italy on 13 January, leaving 32 passengers and crew dead or still missing. 
 
 The Costa Allegra, carrying 636 passengers and 413 crew, was on Monday night drifting, with only emergency lights operating, in force four seas, 200 miles south-west of the Seychelles and about 20 miles from Alphonse Island, an area frequented by pirates. A company spokesman said there were nine Italian marines on board the vessel as a security measure. 
 
 Srdjana Janosevic, a spokeswoman for the Seychelles president, said: "If pirates attack, the armed guards on board will respond. But as far as I am aware, no pirates have been sighted in the area." 
 
 Janosevic added that the Seychelles coastguard and air wing had mobilised, and an aircraft was flying over the ship late on Monday evening. A helicopter is due to deliver food to the ship on Tuesday as well as cell phones and radios to use as the ship's battery-powered satellite phone runs down. 
 
 Costa Cruises said that after fire broke out in the electrical generator rooms to the rear of the ship, a distress signal was sent out, the general emergency alarm was sounded on board and passengers and crew were ordered to muster stations. "The shipboard fire-extinguishing system and procedures were activated and the special fire-fighting squads intervened to extinguish the fire," a statement said. 
 
 "Inspections on the state of the engine room are ongoing in order to restart the necessary equipment to reactivate the functionality of the ship." 
 
 The 28,596 tonne Costa Allegra, which can carry a maximum of 1,400 people, had left Diego Suarez in Madagascar on Saturday and was due to arrive in the Seychelles on Tuesday. Built in 1969 in Finland as a cargo ship, the 188 metre long vessel was refitted as a cruise ship in 1992 with eight passenger decks and 399 cabins. 
 
 "This is really an unlucky period for Costa Cruises, although I am happy there were neither victims or wounded on board," said Sergio Ortelli, the mayor of Giglio, the island off the Tuscan coast of Italy where the Costa Concordia grounded after it hit rocks. 
 
 The Costa Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest, accused of manslaughter and abandoning ship. The 114,000 tonne ship, which had 4,252 people aboard, suffered a 70 metre gash in its side as it hit rocks. 
 
 "This is another serious incident that shows we were right to ask for urgent checks on all the Costa Cruises fleet," said Carlo Rienzi, the head of Italian consumer group Codacons, which is backing legal action against the firm by passengers who were on board the Costa Concordia.
– Another public relations nightmare for operators of the Costa Concordia—though this time, no one was hurt. Concordia sister ship the Costa Allegra suffered a fire in its engine room, prompting the engines to be shut off some 260 miles from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Now the Allegra is largely under a blackout, with emergency battery power in the cabin. A number of vessels and a plane have been sent to help tow the ship to the Seychelles. It's due in tomorrow morning, ANSA reports. Some 636 passengers and 413 crew members were aboard the ship. "The shipboard fire-extinguishing system and procedures were promptly activated and the special fire-fighting squads intervened to extinguish the fire," the company said in a statement, according to the Guardian.