Editing MS Achille Lauro (section)

====Later years, fire, and sinking====
The ship continued in service. She was re-flagged in 1989 when the Lauro Line was taken over by the [[Mediterranean Shipping Company]] to become "StarLauro".

[[File:MS Achille Lauro lifebouy.jpg|thumb|Lifebuoy from the ''Achille Lauro'' (at top right), now on display in the [[Maritime Museum Rotterdam|Rotterdam Maritime Museum]]]]
In the evening of 30 November 1994 she caught fire off the coast of [[Somalia]] while ''en route'' to [[South Africa]], with 979 passengers and crew aboard. At that time, Italian officials said the fire had been caused by a discarded cigarette. Later analysis suggests that the fire started in the engine room after one of the crankcases exploded which allowed cooling oil to get into the exhaust. Because of a lack of supervision, the fire burned out of control before its discovery.<ref name="NYTimes">{{cite news |last=Cowell |first=Alan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/02/world/achille-lauro-smolders-after-1000-are-rescued.html|title=''Achille Lauro'' Smolders After 1,000 are Rescued|work=[[The New York Times]]|date= 2 December 1994 |access-date=30 September 2019 }}</ref> The crew battled the fire unsuccessfully for several hours, first with hoses and then by passing buckets from the swimming pool. Entertainer [[Moss Hills]], who led rescue efforts during the sinking of MTS ''[[MTS Oceanos|Oceanos]]'' in 1991, recalled that pouring water on an oil fire was ineffective, while making the conflagration worse.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-7RGBfR4Cs | title=The Story of the ''Achille Lauro ''| website=[[YouTube]] }}</ref> The vessel was abandoned in the morning after developing a list. A small number of crew and passengers were unable to board the main lifeboats due to flames coming up from the hull, so they climbed down a rope ladder from the stern to reach inflatable boats. Two died and eight were injured during the evacuation and transfer to rescue ships. Among the ships that responded to the call were [[USS Gettysburg (CG-64)|USS ''Gettysburg'']] and {{USS|Halyburton|FFG-40|6}}.<ref name="BBC">{{Cite news |title=BBC on This Day 30 November 1994: Blazing liner abandoned off east Africa |work=[[BBC News]] |date=2008 |access-date=30 September 2019 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/30/newsid_2525000/2525643.stm }}</ref> ''Achille Lauro'' sank on 2 December 1994, which was witnessed by a fire tugboat that had arrived to assess salvageability. The wreck has not been located since.<ref>{{cite web|author=Reuben Goossens |url=http://www.ssmaritime.com/achillelauro.htm |title=''Achille Lauro'' |publisher=ssMaritime.com |access-date=30 September 2019 }}</ref>