Passengers and crew members on a cruise ship stranded in the Gulf of Mexico have limited access to food and bathrooms after a engine fire.

The Carnival Triumph, adrift 150 miles (240km) off the Yucatan Peninsula, is waiting to be towed by two tug boats to Progreso, Mexico.

A fire in an engine room broke out early on Sunday, cutting out the ship’s propulsion system.

No one was injured but the Triumph will not return to land until Wednesday.

Another Carnival ship, the Elation, supplied the stranded vessel with dinner and extra supplies on Sunday.

Melinda Ramos, whose father is on the boat, told the Houston Chronicle that he appeared to be in good spirits when he spoke to her.

“He might be completely joking, but he said they’re sleeping in tents outside,” she said.

But Brent Nutt, who is not on board, told a local news station that his wife was a passenger and that she had no access to running water or a bathroom.

The ship, which left Galveston, Texas, on Thursday, had been scheduled to return there on Monday.

The Triumph’s 3,143 passengers will instead fly back to the US from Progreso. There are also 1,086 crew members aboard the ship.

In a statement, Carnival said all passengers would receive a refund and “cruise credit equal to the amount paid for this voyage”.

The Triumph’s next two trips, scheduled for next week, have been cancelled.

A similar situation happened on a Carnival cruise ship in November 2010, in which a vessel was stranded for three days in the Pacific after a fire in the engine room.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21420271