There is a  temporary halt in work at Princess Cay, Eleuthera, following a major fire that damaged at least four buildings on the islands’ resort. 

However,  there  was no major damage to the guest areas at Princess Cruise Line’s port of call in Bannerman Town,  Eleuthera, the most southern part of the island. 

According to police, “shortly after 10pm  Monday,  they went  to  Princess  Cruise Line’s Princess Cay  and  discovered four wooden building engulfed in flames. Police and community fire service volunteers made efforts to extinguish the fire; however, the buildings were totally destroyed”.  

Director of Island Operations for the cruise line’s cays, Kevin Cartwright, said the fire at the Resort, which hosts thousands of tourists arriving by cruise ship, was contained to the back portion of houses at the resort. 

“The   fire that broke out  was burning for about five hours.

“It was contained to the back of the house where we have our reverse osmosis plant, a maintenance shop, carpentry shop [and] a room for equipment. 

“Unfortunately, it took a while for the fire trucks to come down; they had to come from Tarpum Bay; so that was a couple hours,” Mr. Cartwright said. 

“The staff   and the management and the local community came out and did an exceptional job in holding the fire at bay. It did not affect any guest areas which is fantastic,” he added.

“We do not know the cause of the fire, the Fire Department and the police have ruled out any foul-play, so we  just have to ascertain what created the fire and put it back together. 

“We should be up and running for cruise passengers in short order.

“We will not be able to service the ship for about a week and a couple days perhaps, but we will be back up and running in short order,” Mr. Cartwright said.  

He  also confirmed that there were no injuries, just mechanical equipment destroyed, which he said, “will be restored in short order”.

Mr. Cartwright commended the residents of the island, whom he said helped to contain the fire.

“It’s an unfortunate thing, but  between the support of the police and the staff and the management that [were] on property, the local community that came out to assist,  they did an incredible job in containing the fire to just that area. So, it hasn’t affected any guest areas [and] so that’s awesome,” Mr. Cartwright said.

According to Superintendent of Police, Shanta Knowles, Fire Services Officers from New Providence are on Eleuthera to continue investigation into this matter.