Cruise ship fire leaves over 600 people stranded

The Costa Allegra, sister ship of the Costa Concordia, caught fire earlier today over 300 kilometres off the Seychelles in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The fire was extinguished with no reported injuries, but the ship was left adrift without power. Damage was sustained to the engine, with the backup generator only working to keep the lights and majority of the instruments in the command room working. The rest of the ship and its 636 passengers remained in the dark and without air conditioning.

Officials who have been in contact with crew members have said that the ship is holding up well, despite its lack of power. Passengers, who are mostly citizens from Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Britain, are staying in the big, communal rooms on the ship rather than their individual cabins.

A large French fishing boat is anticipated to be the first vessel to reach the cruise ship late Monday night, with tug boats from the Seychelles reaching it sometime Tuesday afternoon. Some are worried about the delay in the rescue, as that particular area of the Indian Ocean is known to be frequented by pirates.

This incident comes only 6 weeks after the Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized off the coast of Italy, killing dozens of people.

- Post by Anne Marshall

Journalists fearful as Syrian violence continues

Two videos have recently surfaced online from journalists who were injured in an attack on Homs, Syria. The attack also claimed the lives of American journalist Marie Colvin, award-winning French photographer Remi Ochlik and Syrian journalist Rami al-Sayed. First to surface was the video of Edith Bouvier, a French journalist who is requesting to be evacuated from Homs in order to get treatment for her leg that is broken in two places from the rocket attack on Wednesday. The second video is of UK photographer Paul Conroy who was working with Marie Colvin at the time of the attack. He suffered three wounds to his leg and requires evacuation from Syria for further medical treatment.





Both journalists stress that they are guests, not captives, of the Free Syrian Army, the rebel group fighting against government forces, and that they are receiving the best treatment possible under the circumstances. Video footage demonstrates that the conditions in Homs are not ideal, with missiles being heard in both videos and members of the rebels stressing that they are not safe from another attack, making evacuation a necessity for injured parties.

February 23 marked the 19th day of rocket and missile attacks on the Syrian city of Homs, part of the Syrian governments’ escalating violence against rebel forces. The conflict started back in March 2011, with citizens calling for democracy and the end of a forty year rule by the Assad family. The uprising is considered to be part of the “Arab Spring” with numerous Arab countries including Libya and Tunisia calling for greater freedom and political reform after decades of repression and dictatorship.

Post by Anne Marshall