‘Truly terrible’: Passenger describes escape after fatal fire breaks out on World Legacy cruise ship

The fire was extinguished by the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) marine firefighters. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The passenger, who gave her name as Quynh, said they were asked to stop all activities at about 4.20am.

“Everyone panicked,” she told The Straits Times. “That’s when the loudspeaker announced the fire and asked everyone to move to deck seven.”

She added that when asked, crew members told them not to worry and that everything was fine.

However, the 31-year-old said she noticed smoke starting to spread down to deck three.

“When we reached deck seven, there were crew (members) standing at the door, asking everyone to put on life vests and move to the outside deck,” she said.

With smoke filling the deck, she told ST that she and her companions – her husband and their friends – got scared and started considering the worst-case scenario.

The police coast guard arrived at about 5am and the SCDF maritime firefighting and rescue crew at about 6am.

“It wasn’t until 7.10am that we were told to move down to deck three to wait for the rescue boat,” she said.

“And there, we had to jostle and wait from around 7.20am to 9.20am before we could board the rescue boat.”

A video Ms Quynh shared on Tiktok shows passengers wearing life vests gathered on one of the decks.

The video later pans to show people moving to an upper deck.

According to Ms Quynh, the passengers were standing from about 4.20am to about 9.20am.

“Four hours of cold, wet, exhaustion and fatigue,” she said. “Some (people) also suffered from smoke and difficulty breathing.”

She added that she and one of her friends experienced headaches, giddiness and sore throats after breathing in smoke.

“It was a truly terrible and traumatising experience,” she said.

MPA said that the vessel is anchored at Raffles Reserved Anchorage.