SANDAKAN, Sabah, Malaysia - A cruise ship that caught fire was now heading toward eastern Malaysia after a fire that disabled its engines has been put out, the Philippine coastguard said on Saturday. The fire injured five crew members.Philippines Coast Guard Captain Perfecto Eden said the Azamara Quest, carrying 600 passengers and 411 crew and which made a port call in Manila on Wednesday, is now on its way to Sandakan a Malaysian Borneo port of entry after the fire was put out on Saturday.
The Azamara Quest has 590 passengers and 411 crew members. The PCG was alerted by a call from the US Coast Guard at around 7.15am yesterday that the ship was on fire off Tubbataha Reef in Palawan. The ship was 72km northeast of Mapun Island when the fire broke out, Colonel Jose Cenabre, deputy naval commander for Western Mindanao, said. The ship will proceed to Malaysia for repairs.
The luxury liner was en route to the port of Sandakan in Sabah. The ship came from Manila after departing from Hong Kong on Monday for a 17-night cruise that included port calls in Balikpapan (Borneo), Palapo (Sulawesi), Benoa Bali, Semarang and Komodo, Indonesia, and Singapore.The Malta-flagged Azamara, described on its website as a 30,277-tonne vessel, left Hong Kong on Monday for a 17-night dream voyage. It left Manila, its first stop, on Wednesday, and had been on its way to Borneo.It was supposed to take in islands of the Indonesian archipelago, including the popular holiday spot Bali, before terminating in Singapore
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