1 Mar 2012

Crippled cruise liner reaches Seychelles

9:06 pm on 1 March 2012

A crippled cruise liner with more than one thousand people on board has arrived at the capital of the Seychelles after three days at sea without power.

A French fishing boat towed the Costa Allegra towards the port in Victoria where ambulances and a fleet of buses waited.

Passengers have spent most of the time crowded on the ship's decks in sweltering temperatures after a fire in the engine room knocked out power.

The ship is owned by the company whose giant liner, the Costa Concordia, capsized after crashing into rocks off Italy in January.

Costa Cruises says about half of the 627 passengers have accepted its offer to continue their holiday in the Seychelles at the company's expense.

The others will fly home.