An engine room fire Wednesday disabled a cruise ship off the Mexican coast, but the crew extinguished the blaze and the ship with 715 people aboard was towed to port. The Navy cutter Vigilant escorted the 465-foot ship, the Scandinavian Star, as a precaution, according to Chief Petty Officer Luis Diaz of the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami. ``The fire is out and the ship is being towed by the Mexican navy to Cancun,'' said Diaz. There were no injuries from the fire, but a 71-year-old St. Petersburg man who suffered a heart attack was in stable condition and on his way home aboard a Coast Guard plane. A second person who suffered a spinal cord injury was also evacuated with the heart attack victim, but Diaz said that injury also was apparently not related to the fire. The ship was expected to arrive in Cancun late Wednesday or Thursday. The 449 passengers will be flown to St. Petersburg, said Jill DeChello, spokesman for the ship's owner, SeaEscape Ltd. of Miami. The Scandinavian Star was on a 3-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, and was returning to St. Petersburg when the fire broke out about 1 a.m. EST Wednesday, she said. The crew sealed off the engine room and pumped in carbon dioxide to put out the fire. ``They used all their CO2 and closed off the engine room,'' said Diaz. ``Then they requested more assistance from the Coast Guard.'' The fire was already extinguished when the Vigilant arrived about 10 a.m., he added. Ms. DeChello said the company did not know what sparked the fire. ``It will take a week before we know the cause and the extent of the damage,'' said Ms. DeChello. In August 1984, a fire struck the Star's sister ship, the Scandinavian Sun, in the port of Miami, killing a passenger and a crewman. ``I feel they are two totally different incidents that are in no way related,'' said Ms. DeChello. She said the cruise line was inspected by the Coast Guard and rigorously enforced all safety rules. Wednesday's fire occurred as the Scandinavian Star was about 35 miles off Isla Mujeres, a Mexican island north of the tourist resort Cancun in the Yucatan peninsula, the Coast Guard said.
An engine room fire Wednesday disabled a cruise ship off the Mexican coast, but the crew extinguished the blaze. The Navy cutter Vigilant escorted the 465-foot ship, the Scandinavian Star, into port as a precaution, according to Chief Petty Officer Luis Diaz of the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami. There were no injuries from the fire, but a 71-year-old St. Petersburg man suffered a heart attack and was being taken home aboard a Coast Guard plane. The Scandinavian Star was on a 3-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, and was returning to St. Petersburg when the fire broke out about 8 a.m. EST Wednesday.