A tourist cruise ship burst into flames on the River Nile, forcing the evacuation of over 200 holidaymakers.
Terrifying footage captured the Iberotel Crown Empress engulfed in an orange blaze with flames exploding from the windows as the vessel sailed between Luxor and Edfu, Egypt.
The fire is believed to have broken out in the ship’s galley at around 6:15pm on Tuesday for reasons which are still being investigated.
The inferno spread throughout the entire hull and left the cabins completely destroyed, forcing the ship’s staff to activate the emergency alarm and move passengers to the upper deck.
Empress was quickly docked at an unofficial anchorage near Esna to allow for the evacuation of some 220 tourists of varying nationalities. No injuries or deaths have been reported following the incident.
The tourists on board had been partaking in their first day of a 12-day Nile river cruise when disaster struck.
‘At 6:30pm, other boats shone flashlights toward our cabins. When we opened the window, we saw a huge plume of smoke on deck,’ one passenger on board told VRT News.
He explained that the evacuation process proved difficult as the fire had broken out on the ground floor so the tourists were not able to exit that way.
‘It was pure chaos. People didn’t know what to do. Some passengers were able to reach safety via the gangway, others couldn’t even leave their cabins and were eventually rescued by two small boats,’ he added.
A crew member on board the burning Empress also told La Repbblica that staff had used emergency exits to signal to other vessels to stay away.
‘It was a difficult moment, the passengers were frightened but cooperative,’ they said.
Passengers on board told how they had to leave their luggage behind as they made their quick escape.
The Public Prosecution office has begun its investigations, with initial findings indicating that the cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit in the ship’s kitchen, as per local reports.
It comes after a Norwegian Cruise ship rescued 63 people who were left stranded in the Ionian Sea last week.
The luxury vessel, operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines, rescued dozens of people off the Greek coast on the night of October 22.
The cruise line’s Norwegian Epic vessel worked with Greek authorities to bring ’63 individuals to safety,’ according to the company.
Norwegian told USA TODAY: ‘The individuals were brought on board and tended to by the ship’s crew who provided a medical evaluation, food and other items for their comfort.
‘Following a mandatory directive from the Rescue Coordination Centre, the ship proceeded to Kalamata, Greece where the rescued individuals were turned over to the Greek authorities.’
The cruise line did not specify who the people rescued were.
