The cruise ship MSC World Europa, carrying more than 6,000 passengers – including Luxembourgers – was stranded at sea for 11 hours due to engine failure before resuming its journey under coast guard escort.

In the early hours of Monday morning, a cruise ship carrying more than 6,000 passengers came to a standstill off the Italian island of Ponza. For around eleven hours, the MSC World Europa was unable to move due to an engine failure. Power on board also went out for two to three hours.

Among those on board are Luxembourg nationals. One woman from the Grand Duchy told RTL that she and her cousin were woken shortly before 6am when the emergency light in their cabin came on. She quickly realised the engines were no longer running and saw that the ship was standing still.

Shortly afterwards, the captain made a public announcement explaining that a power issue had disabled the engines.

The passenger added that the situation became more worrying when electricity went out completely and the toilets were unusable for nearly three hours. With about 8,000 people on board, including crew, she feared conditions could quickly deteriorate had the toilets remained out of service for longer.

Nevertheless, she said the crew handled the incident well: passengers were updated roughly every two hours and food and drink supplies remained sufficient.

Since shortly after 4pm on Monday, the ship has been moving again, albeit at reduced speed and under escort from the Italian coast guard. Its next scheduled stop is Naples, though passengers will not be allowed to disembark as originally planned. What happens after that remains unclear.

MSC Cruises later stated that passengers and crew were never in danger at any point.