Cruise ship fire forces 500 to evacuate

Posted: 9:51 AM, Aug 17, 2016
Updated: 2016-08-17 11:34:12-04
Cruise ship fire forces 500 to evacuate
Cruise ship fire forces 500 to evacuate

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — More than 500 passengers were being evacuated on Wednesday from a ship that caught fire about a mile off Puerto Rico's north coast.

The fire was still burning aboard the Caribbean Fantasy, a combination cruise and ferry vessel, as the U.S. Coast Guard began bringing passengers into the San Juan harbor while helicopters whirred overheard.

The extent of injuries was not immediately clear. Several dozen people who were carried in on stretchers were being treated for dehydration and shock.







The ships run several times weekly between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The ferry was arriving in San Juan when the fire broke out, Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad said. The cause of the fire was unclear.