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Alaska cruise ship evacuated, passengers safe
2007-05-15
A cruise ship with 281 people on board hit a reef off Alaska and started taking on water early on Monday but all passengers were evacuated safely, the U.S. Coast Guard said. A ferry and other smaller vessels were used to evacuate the passengers after the accident, which occurred at about 2 a.m. (1000 GMT) about 50 miles south of Juneau on Alaska's eastern leg in an area called Icy Straits, officials said. "The 248 passengers have been taken off the vessel," Coast Guard spokesman Richard Brahm told Reuters by telephone. The crew had remained on the cruise ship and were taking it back to Juneau, he said. Dan Miller, a spokesman for owner Majestic America, told CNN the 360-foot-long (110-meter-long) Empress of the North had stopped taking on water. "She only took on water for a short period of time before the pumps were engaged," Miller said. The ship, which had been on a weeklong cruise out of Juneau, has 112 staterooms and an old-fashioned rear paddle wheel, according to the Web site of its owner, the Majestic America cruise line. Its decor includes Native American totems and masks, as well as Faberge eggs and other Russian artwork. Majestic America is a division of Ambassadors Cruise Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ambassadors International Inc.
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