Stranded passengers complain of stench aboard cruise ship

Mobile, AL, United States (4E) – Some passengers of the crippled Carnival Triumph cruise ship have complained of foul odor aboard caused by cabin toilets that overflowed as the vessel is towed from the Gulf of Mexico to Alabama.

The stranded passengers, numbering more than 4,200, need to fall in line to get food and others have to sleep in tents set up on the deck, according to phone calls and SMS of some passengers to their relatives and news outlets reported on Tuesday.

Passenger Debra Rightmire said cabin carpets wet with urine forced her to sleep in the hallways, according to ABC News. Another passenger, Shelly Crosby, told the network Tuesday that she stood in line for four hours before getting a hamburger.

Brent Nutt said his wife, Bethany, told him that passengers are getting sick and throwing up because of the stench, according to New York Post.

Passengers have to endure the bad smell and service until Thursday, when the Triumph is expected to dock at the empty Alabama Cruise Terminal in Mobile. The Triumph is slowly being towed by two tugboats escorted by a U.S. Coast Guard ship since Monday, a day after an engine room fire cut power, caused water and plumbing systems to fail and left the ship without propulsion 150 miles off Mexico’s Yucatan, Peninsula.

The Triumph, which is partly powered by generators, was supposed to be towed to a port in Progreso, Mexico but strong currents pushed it off-course and forced the tugboat operators to take the ship to Alabama.

The ship started a 4-day cruise trip in Galveston, Texas on Thursday and lost power on Sunday.

---

---