Aboard the Carnival Triumph cruise ship

The Carnival Triumph, with over 4,000 passengers aboard, idled for nearly a week in the Gulf of Mexico following an engine room fire and was being towed to port in Mobile, Ala. As passengers came within sight of land and a cellphone signal, a clearer picture of the scene aboard the ship began to emerge. They described overflowing toilets, sewage backed up in showers, scarce food, people getting sick and a tent city on what was supposed to be a tanning deck.

Credit: Jacob Combs