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Stomach-churning photos reveal how sewage flooded cruise liner stuck at sea
Thousands of passengers were stuck at sea for five days as sewage flooded the ship and now the ship is set to be featured in a new series.
Due to stream on June 24, episode three of Trainwreck on Netflix - the series that looks at several disasters, will focus solely on the voyage of the Carnival Triumph in February 2013.
The ship was meant to embark on a four-day sojourn out of New Orleans, Louisiana throughout the Gulf of Mexico. But, on day four, an electrical fire broke out and turned the entire trip on its head.
The accident engulfed the ship's electrical cables in flames. Those cables powered the Triumph's entire electrical system including the power, refrigeration, propulsion, air conditioning and the power to flush the toilets.
While at sea they were impossible to repair and the entire cruise ship had to be sustained by a singular generator.
As a result, the boat powerlessly drifted in the Gulf of Mexico for four days, completely unable to accommodate its nearly 4,000 passengers with basic needs like food and operational toilets.
To make matters worse, with just one day left on their trip, Carnival Captains found themselves unable to steer the ship at all thanks to the power outage.
Passenger Tammy Garcia said at the time: 'It wasn't vacation anymore, it was like survival mode. Eat what you can. Snack when you can. It was awful.'
Because of the fire, passengers operated completely in the dark and were forced to poop into red biohazard bags and pee in the showers.
One passenger, Rian Tipton, told People at the time that some people snubbed the biohazard bags altogether and continued to use the out-of-order toilets.
'Toilets started to overflow and so were the trash cans! People were literally peeing and pooping in the trash cans.
'The worst that I've heard is people going into the public bathrooms and seeing feces on the wall,' she said.
The sewage system became overwhelmed by the outage and even began leaking thousands of people's excrement into the floors and hallways.
Passengers set up camp on the decks of the boat to avoid the foul smell of their cruise-mates' plumbing.
Passenger Robin Chandler, who boarded the cruise to celebrate her birthday said: 'The stench was awful. A lot of people were crying and freaking out.'
Since the cruise was spontaneously increased by four days, staff also quickly ran low on food.
One passenger said the food was one of the worst parts, but nothing could compare to the toilet situation.
'The worst thing was the toilets. Going in them little red bags and we just had to put them in the trash. It got to the stage when they said if you have to urinate go in the sink or the shower.
'I'm looking forward to getting to a flushing commode. The cold onion sandwiches were pretty bad too,' the passenger said.
After days of ruined plans, rationed food and powerless nights, insanity started to creep in.
Passengers made help signs, drew on robes and bedsheets to document the disaster.
They had to rely on themselves for comfort and entertainment since the amenities they'd paid for were long gone.
Help finally arrived on Valentine's day, February 14. Tug boats ushered the ship for the Gulf to a nearby port in Mobile, Alabama, miles away from the cruise's original docking point.
