National Transportation Safety Board

摘要

On the morning of October 17, 2004, a fire broke out in the engineroom of the U.S. small passenger vessel Express Shuttle Ⅱ while it was entering the mouth of the Pithlachascotee River near Port Richey, Florida. The shuttle was returning from the Gulf of Mexico, where it had ferried 78 passengers to a casino boat offshore, and was on its way back to the marina operated by the vessel's owner, Paradise of Port Richey. Only the master and two deckhands were on board when the fire broke out. None of the crew activated the vessel's fixed carbon dioxide (CO_2) fire suppression system. The crew attempted to fight the fire with portable extinguishers, but when the fire burned out of control, they prepared to abandon ship. A passing recreational boat, operated by an off-duty Coast Guardsman, rescued the crewmembers. Firefighters from Port Richey and Pasco County fought the blaze, but the vessel, valued at $800,000, was destroyed.