The Carnival cruise ship Triumph—Triumph!—which has been adrift after an engine fire in the Gulf of Mexico, its thousands of voyagers sweltering with limited electricity, huffing the fetid scent of sewage and building a shanty town on the decks with sheets and mattresses taken from their dank quarters, finally saw the terminal of the misery as tug boats pulled them to Alabama.

And then this happened:

A tow line being used to pull the Carnival Triumph snapped this afternoon, setting back the efforts to bring the damaged cruise ship and its 3,143 passengers to port in Mobile, Alabama. Coast Guard Petty Officer William Colclough told the AP the ship is "dead in the water and when they reconnect safely, they then proceed on their way."

Oh, man. Those poor people. What hell for them all. But still... everyone loves a luxury-resort-turned-gulag-of-the-sea story.