A couple escaped from a sinking cruise liner in Malaysia -- by clambering into a leaking lifeboat.

Pat and Geoffrey Clark, of Washington Road, Maldon, were enjoying a pre-retirement cruise on the Sun Vista cruise ship, off the Malaysian coast, when disaster struck.

The terrifying ordeal began when the ship, with more than 1,000 passengers on board, caught fire and sank last Thursday.

Mrs Clark, 59, was first aware of the problem when she noticed smoke billowing out of the liner's funnel. The fire is believed to have started in the ship's engine room.

But a few hours later she said passengers were told to abandon ship and get into the lifeboats. Many of the passengers were forced to flee wearing only their shorts and swimming costumes.

Mrs Clark said: "There wasn't any panic and it was quite orderly."

However she said once they were in the lifeboat with around 50 other holiday makers, they discovered it was leaking.

She said the bungs which had been pulled out from the lifeboat had not been replaced and there was no hose attached to the pump in the boat. A spare hose was eventually found and water pumped from the boat.

Initial reports of the sinking last week said some passengers had sung the theme song from the film Titanic -- just to keep their spirits up.

The lifeboat was picked up by a container vessel and the passengers were eventually taken to their next holiday destination at Penang.

Despite the interruption to their 16-day holiday the couple continued their break -- and the drama has not put them off sea travel.

"Four of the 27 people in our group went home but the rest of us stayed. I think it would be upsetting if we had gone home," Mrs Clark said.

"It was our last exotic holiday just before our retirement as we might not be able to afford one again. I think I would like to go back to cruising but not at the moment. Perhaps next year."

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