Cruise Ship Cleared for Travel after Two Fires in One Week

A luxury liner that caught fire twice and ran aground once in a week received conditional clearance Saturday to return to sea even though an arsonist might be lurking on board, the Coast Guard said.

Authorities said they suspect a crew member aboard the hard-luck cruise ship may have set the second fire, which broke out Friday, five days after an apparently accidental blaze caused the ship to run aground in Delaware Bay.

“It’s unnerving,” Lt. Pete Hoffman said. “We’re concerned about the firebug, and we want him to be found and removed. But the bottom line is, when we’re satisfied the ship is safe to sail, we’ll let it sail.”

Petty Officer Gary Rives said an inspection Saturday turned up several “minor” violations, such as faulty hatches and fire doors. But if the problems are corrected by today, the Regent Star could depart on a scheduled five-day cruise to Canada, he said.

Investigators said the fire in a lower-deck storeroom Friday was deliberately set while the 24,000-ton ship was docked at Penn’s Landing. No one was injured, but the fire forced the cancellation of a weekend cruise.

The arson is being investigated by Philadelphia police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, but no suspects were in custody.

An apparently unrelated fire as the ship was steaming toward Philadelphia five days earlier knocked out the ship’s power and forced it to run aground in the Delaware Bay off Fortescue, N. J. The ship was refloated Tuesday after nearly 900 passengers were evacuated. Officials said they do not think the fire was set deliberately.