Ocean Navigator accidents and incidents

18 October 2023Fire Accident

On October 18, 2023, while docked at Ocean Gateway Terminal in Portland (Maine), the ship suffered an engine room fire.

An explosion followed after a diesel generator caught fire (at ~7:30 AM/~11:30 UTC). Fortunately, most of the passengers were ashore touring the local attractions.

The accident resulted in technical damages, one crew was seriously injured and hospitalized, and all passengers (128) and crew (82) were safely offloaded/evacuated. Reportedly, the injured man sustained serious burns to the hands and arms, but the injuries were not life-threatening. No injuries among the passengers were reported.

The fire was contained and quickly extinguished by the ship's crew assisted by local firefighters. The current cruise was canceled as the USCG forbade passengers to reboard the ship. All of them were housed at a local hotel.

AOV was forced to cancel the next scheduled voyages, with departures on Oct 19th (7-day/Boston to Saint John NB), and Oct 26th (7-day/Saint John NB to Gloucester MA).

The vessel remained in South Portland until November.

The accident occurred at the end of the 9-day relocation voyage (itinerary Oct 10-19) from Montreal (Quebec Canada) to Boston (Massachusetts) with call ports in Quebec (Quebec City), Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown), Nova Scotia (Halifax), and Maine (Portland).