Carnival Cruise Passengers Become Ill Due To Foul Smell On Ship

Chemical smells coming from a Carnival cruise ship caused passengers onboard to feel nauseous and begin vomiting, forcing the ship to dock early in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Carnival Magic cruise ship was undergoing an exterior paint job when chemical fumes caused some passengers to feel ill while onboard late Wednesday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Carnival Magic passenger Vanessa Burgard told WVEC, an ABC affiliate out of Norfolk, “I was on the second floor where there was a strong chemical smell.”

No passengers were in immediate distress, according to a tweet from the Coast Guard, but it sent a crew to the ship early Thursday to investigate the incident.

While it was unclear how many passengers became ill from the chemical smells, a Carnival Cruise Line representative told the New York Post in a statement that they were “impacted by an odor from an exterior painting project.

“The ship’s crew quickly reacted and provided assistance to the guests. Carnival Magic returned to Norfolk, Va., this morning as scheduled and all guests have disembarked,” the cruise line added.

The Carnival Magic was on a five-day sailing, according to WVEC. The 15-level ship can hold nearly 4,000 passengers and 1,367 crew members, according to the cruise line’s website.

The news of the chemical fumes on the Carnival Magic comes amid a fire on another Carnival cruise ship on Thursday morning while docked in Grand Turk. A fire broke out inside the funnel of the Carnival Freedom ship, forcing the disembarkment of passengers on the Caribbean island.

Carnival Cruise Line’s emergency response team was able to extinguish the fire while docked.