Explosion reported on small cruise ship in Maine's Portland Harbor

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• Strong Canadian showing in NHL playoffs is good news for fans
• Explosion reported aboard small cruise ship docked in Maine's Portland Harbor
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• Cat found at Pearson airport 3 days after going missing
• Crew member injured when explosion ignites fire on cruise ship in Portland
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Nearly 130 passengers and more than 80 crew members were evacuated, Gautreau said, adding one crew member was taken to a local hospital for serious burn injuries on their hands and arms. All passengers and crew members have been accounted for, according to Gautreau. Big ships carrying thousands of passengers and crew were sidelined until this year because a Canadian travel ban and federal regulations prevented them from sailing to U.S. waters, too.

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In a 2021 survey of more than 1,300 residents, over half said that cruise ship tourism was more negative than positive, degrading the quality of life in Bar Harbor and detracting from the overall image and visitor appeal of the town. Fewer than a quarter of survey respondents said the economic impact of cruise ships was important to themselves, their friends, family, neighbors, businesses or employers. Passengers and crew were evacuated shortly after the ship docked Wednesday morning at the Ocean Gateway Pier. It had been scheduled to spend the night in Portland before leaving Thursday. The statement went on to note that the the fire happened "in the engine room on a generator" and added that the exact cause of the fire was still under investigation. The Coast Guard was working to determine if the Ocean Navigator could continue to be "seaworthy" as crews ventilated it after the fact, CBS affiliate WGME reported.

Explosion reported aboard small cruise ship docked in Maine's Portland Harbor

Portland earned almost $1.2 million in cruise ship passenger “head taxes” in 2019 alone. Cruise lines are scheduled to call on nine Maine ports this year, including Boothbay Harbor, Bath, Rockland, Eastport and Castine. For the first time in 11 years, Bangor will be on the list, too, after the city council last week approved a 20-year docking lease for American Cruise Lines, Mainebiz reported. The injured male crew member suffered burns and was taken to the hospital.

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The Portland Fire Department was responding to a generator explosion on board a cruise ship along the waterfront Wednesday morning. Herring gathered her husband and walked into Portland’s Old Port neighborhood, while questions remained about the health of the injured crew member and the sea-worthiness of the small cruise ship left behind. After nearly seven hours in the terminal, the passengers and crew boarded the ship again to offload luggage, then busses arrived, loaded passengers, and transported them away. An American Queen Voyages spokesperson told NEWS CENTER Maine in an update guests on the ship would be housed at a local hotel. "The investigation continues and testing of the ship’s generators and propulsion systems are ongoing to determine impacts and operational capability," Ryan Koroknay with the U.S.

Explosion confirmed on cruise ship in Portland, Maine: Person injured - WMTW Portland

Explosion confirmed on cruise ship in Portland, Maine: Person injured.

Posted: Wed, 18 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Maine’s tourism industry had a near-record-breaking year in 2021 without the cruise market, which critics say offers a negligible economic benefit to the state. Some residents of Bar Harbor, the state’s biggest cruise port, are fed up with the crowding and congestion and want to rein in the industry. With no travel restrictions and only voluntary COVID-19 regulations for cruises, the industry is back in full swing and bearing down on the state. At least five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar towards a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria on Sunday, two Iraqi security sources told Reuters. Gautreau said some of the crew members may not be American citizens, so U.S. Customs and Border Protection was on the scene to handle any potential issues.

Fire officials say that they were able to evacuate the ship within about 15 minutes, and there were no other injuries. When cruises were suspended in 2020, Habash mothballed his Portland-area tour company, The Scenic Route. Still, Largay said that in his experience, cruises produce repeat visitors.

Crew member injured when explosion ignites fire on cruise ship in Portland

Partly, the town was worried that hurried regulations could open it up to lawsuits from deep-pocketed cruise lines. Cruise passengers in Maine spent about $70 each at every port they visited, according to a 2019 study by the Maine Office of Tourism. Last year, overnight travelers staying at paid accommodations spent about $200 a day, while day-trippers spent about $87 based on a traveling group of 2.7 people, according to the tourism office’s research. Most big cruise ships visit Maine in the fall “shoulder” season to coincide with the changing leaves and take advantage of fewer crowds. Even without them, the state was packed with tourists last year through mid-October and even later, said Khaled Habash, owner of The Scenic Route Maine Tours in Portland.

A crew member onboard the Ocean Navigator had been burned, potentially by the generator fire, and was taken to a nearby hospital. “For me, it is super nice to have, but it is not critical,” Largay said about cruise ship visits. About 95 ships are destined for Portland in 2022, nearly the same as in 2019. Roughly 175 ships have scheduled stops in Bar Harbor, more than during the previous full sailing year. At maximum capacity, that could mean about 140,000 passengers destined for Portland and 290,000 for Bar Harbor, said CruiseMaine Director Sarah Flink. Minutes later, firefighters learned of an explosion in the engine room, and that one crew member had suffered burns.

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The ship, built in 2001 and refurbished in 2019, had come from a port in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was scheduled to spend the night in Portland before departing Thursday for Provincetown, Massachusetts. Portland firefighters and the cruise ship’s crew quickly extinguished the blaze. One person was injured and passengers were evacuated Wednesday after an explosion in the engine room of a small cruise ship docked in Maine's Portland Harbor, officials said.

Ocean Navigator is operated by American Queen Voyages and was scheduled to begin a 10-day cruise from Portland to Saint John, New Brunswick. Ocean Navigator can accommodate up to 200 guests and offers spacious, ocean view suites and staterooms, according to the company’s website. As of Friday, no update on the injured crewmember's condition was available, according to officials. Despite spending nearly seven hours in the terminal, Herring, who said she had traveled on cruises over the past decade, was in good spirits and praised the crew.

Fire officials also received word before arriving at the scene that one member of the Navigator crew had been burned. They treated the crew member who had been burned before arranging transport to a nearby hospital, Portland officials said. The crew member was seriously injured, but the injuries were not considered life-threatening. Massive cruise ships will return to Maine ports this summer after a two-year hiatus, but it’s unclear whether communities are ready to welcome them back.

Still, the town’s budget for cruise revenue is set at 70 percent of the amount earned in 2019, indicating how many fewer ships and passengers the town would like to see, he said. Old Port Card Works on Portland’s Commercial Street was a regular destination for cruise passengers. Crowds would blow through owner Tom Largay’s gift shop and nearby candy store, buying up anything “Maine” – chocolate-covered blueberries, candy lobsters, mugs and postcards. The same circumstances might not line up again, and cruise ship tourists will contribute to the overall economy, Flink said. Visiting on a cruise may also lead passengers to consider a future trip to Maine on their own, she added. The explosion may have been related to the ship’s onboard generator, according to the release.

Several fire trucks and the fire boat were all seen around the Ocean Navigator, a cruise ship with 128 passengers and 82 crewmembers on board. In a statement to The Independent, an American Queen Voyages spokesperson also confirmed that their crew member sustained injuries and is currently being treated in hospital. The ship evacuated all 128 passengers and 82 crew members off the ship, who are all currently housed at a local hotel. The crew member is currently thought to be the only person injured in the fire, according to Portland officials and the US Coast Guard, CBS reports.