Stranded cruise ship evacuated

{mosads}The ship arrived in Mobile around 9:30 p.m. Central time. Carnival said there were 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew members aboard the cruise liner.

No injuries were been reported.

Carnival said the several hour delay in disembarking passengers was due to the ship’s limited number of elevators available after its loss of power.

Passengers on board the Triumph complained to media outlets of squalid conditions on the ship, which they attributed to bathrooms malfunctioning and food spoiling without refrigeration.

Carnival said its CEO, Gerry Cahill, boarded the Triumph when it reached the Mobile port to personally apologize to passengers.

“I want to again apologize to our guests and their friends and family,” Cahill said in a news conference Thursday evening. “The situation has been incredibly difficult and we’re sorry for what happened. Our company was founded on the idea of providing great vacations to fun-loving Americans and clearly we failed on this cruise.”

Carnival has promised passengers refunds of their ticket purchases and credits for future cruises.

At least one lawmaker, Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), has called for a congressional investigation into the disabled Carnival cruise liner.

Matsui sponsored legislation passed by Congress in 2011 to beef up safety requirements for passengers on cruise ships.

She said Thursday that the Triumph’s debilitation showed the need for more federal regulation of the cruise ship industry.

“The recent catastrophe with Triumph, the Carnival cruise ship, is just one more mishap for an industry that touts itself as providing safe, family-friendly vacations,” Matsui said in a statement provided to The Hill by her office.

“While I am glad that no injuries have been reported, the stranding of almost 4,000 people for four days is anything but safe,” she continued. “The power, food and sewage issues reported by passengers are disturbing and raise concerns that these enormous ships are not properly prepared for emergency situations.”