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FORT LAUDERDALE - A fire was extinguished Sunday in the engine room of a gambling cruise ship carrying about 160 people off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, officials said.
Some passengers were treated for minor smoke inhalation, Coast Guard Petty Officer Anastasia Burns said.
The fire on the SunCruz Casino cruise ship was reported about half an hour after the vessel left for a five-hour sail from Dania Beach, Burns said. The ship - the SunCruz V, a 160-foot vessel that can hold 560 people - was towed to Port Everglades about two hours later with everyone still on board, officials said. Broward firefighters who reached the ship while it was still at sea sealed the engine room's airtight doors to contain the blaze, said David Erdman of the Broward County Fire Department. An investigation was planned, Burns said.
People on board were sent to the outdoor top deck and were given life vests after the fire started.
One passenger, Betty Davis of Fort Lauderdale, said patrons were told that a generator caught fire, sparking the blaze.
"The whole boat filled with smoke," Davis said. "And without the motor going, the boat was really rocking around."
Trial to begin against Greenpeace activists
MIAMI - None of the Greenpeace activists thought they might make history when they boarded a ship more than 3 miles off Miami Beach to protest what they consider the Bush administration's inaction on a ban on Amazon mahogany imports.
For a trial starting today, U.S. prosecutors dusted off an 1872 law that aimed to prevent "sailor mongering" to seek the first conviction of an advocacy group over its protest techniques. The environmental group and others see the case as an attempt to silence political dissent.
"Never has anything like this been done, and it's particularly suspect in light of the mission of Greenpeace," said attorney Maria Kayanan, who is supporting Greenpeace's defense on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union.
On April 12, 2002, the crew of the APL Jade stopped two Greenpeace climbers before they could unroll a banner saying "President Bush, Stop Illegal Logging" on the ship, which carried 70 tons of mahogany that Greenpeace believes to be contraband.
Greenpeace members were prosecuted immediately for the protest, but it took prosecutors 15 months to file an indictment against the organization on misdemeanor charges of illegal boarding and conspiracy. A conviction could be punished by five years' probation and a $20,000 fine.