The cruise ship Sapphire Princess was hit by lightning today while sailing in Indonesian waters. No one on board was hurt, but the lightning caused damage to the ship's radar. The lightning struck the mast of the ship and damaged the radar, therefore Sapphire Princess cannot continue the voyage until the radar is fully operational.

Jimmy Ng, passenger sailing on Sapphire Princess says “Captain just announced that during this morning's thunderstorm, while we're sailing in Indonesian waters, a lightning struck the mast and incapacitated all of the ship's radar. Satellite Internet was also down about that time

May have to anchor off the fringe of Singapore waters until this is fixed. Sapphire cannot sail at night thru the busy Straits without the radar navigation as their eyes.

Captain also said that it's the 1st time in his career that this happened. You have our support and understanding Captain, safety above all.

Update: 6:17pm. We're anchored off the eastern part of Singapore Straits, while they're working hard to fix the problem.”

According to the latest update, the Captain announced that the team managed to get one radar working by taking spares from the other radar.

Sapphire Princess is sailing on a 10 Night Malaysian Peninsula & Indonesia cruise. The ship departed from Singapore on 28 December and was scheduled to visit Bali,  Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Phuket, before returning to Singapore on January 07.