A dozen crew were trapped in three workshops next to an engine-room fire, “with no means of escape”, on the 69,400-gt cruiseship Splendour of the Seas (built 1996), it has emerged.

A Bahamas flag-state safety investigation into the October 2015 casualty released this week reveals that the strength of the blaze in diesel generator number one in the forward engine room of the Royal Caribbean Cruises vessel prevented the engineers from getting out until help arrived.