Skift Take
Carnival has relied heavily on the U.S. Coast Guard up to this point, and can count on the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate what went wrong. Expect the cost of both these endeavors to be raised by at least one U.S. congressman or Senator.
A Coast Guard official says the cause of the engine-room fire on the Carnival cruise ship Triumph was a leak in a fuel oil return line.
In a teleconference Monday, Cmdr. Theresa Hatfield estimated that the investigation of the disabled ship would take six months.
She said the Bahamas is leading the investigation, with the Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board leading U.S. interests in the probe.
She said investigators have been with the ship since it arrived Thursday in Mobile, and interviews have been conducted with passengers and crew.
The ship left Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 17 for a four-day trip to Mexico. The fire paralyzed the ship early Sunday, leaving it adrift in the Gulf of Mexico until tugboats towed it to Mobile.
Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Photo credit: A small boat from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous patrols near the cruise ship Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico, in this February 11, 2013 handout photo. Paul McConnell / Reuters