Foul conditions aboard stranded Carnival cruise ship Triumph: Passengers describe 'sewage running down the walls'

and people acting like 'savages'

Since a fire broke out in an engine room Sunday morning, the Carnival Triumph has been drifting off the coast of Mexico. A total of 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew have been forced to make do with cold food, no hot water, sweltering indoor temperatures, and few working toilets. A tow boat is expected Thursday, after an initial plan to tow the ship to a port in Mexico was scrapped. BY ERIK ORTIZ AND DAVID KNOWLES / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS PUBLISHED: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013, 4:58 PM UPDATED: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2013, 9:58 AM Print

US COAST GUARD/REUTERS A small boat from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous patrols near the cruise ship Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico, in this February 11, 2013 handout photo. The cruise ship lost propulsion after an engine room

fire on February 10 and was adrift off southern Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. RELATED STORIES

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A carefree Carnival cruise has descended into a holiday of horrors. Desperate passengers stranded aboard the Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico are describing foul conditions they fear will worsen even as tug boats began towing the massive ship Tuesday to a port in Mobile, Ala. The disabled vessel, carrying more than 4,200 people, isn't expected to reach the shore until Thursday after officials scrapped an earlier plan to dock in Mexico. "Conditions are getting worse by the hour," passenger Debra Rightmire texted to ABC News. "Cabin carpets are wet with urine and water. Toilets are overflowing inside cabins. We are having to sleep in the hallways."

USCG VIA TWITTER This shot provided by the the U.S. Coast Guard shows tug boats in the distance arriving to steer the Carnival Triumph back to port.

Another passenger said some people are sleeping in tents on the deck because of a pungent smell caused by improper refrigeration. "We stood in line for four hours to get a hamburger," Shelly Crosby texted to ABC News. A fire in the Triumphs engine room Sunday morning crippled the enormous ship 150 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, leaving 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew members on board with limited power. No one was injured.

This photo was taken by David Raynes who was aboard a cruise ship that stopped to provide assistance to Carnival cruise ship stranded at sea. The ship set sail from Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 7 and was due to return from Mexico on Feb. 11. After the fire, officials planned to have the boat towed to a Mexican port on Wednesday, but said Monday night that strong currents sent the vessel drifting 90 miles north. Two small ships are slowly pulling the Triumph to Mobile.

Brent Nutt, whose wife, Bethany, is on board, spoke to CNN Sunday night about conditions on the Triumph, which is relying on backup power generators. "She was crying ... and she just wants off of the ship," Nutt said. "I mean, it's horrible. There's no running water. There's no power. They are having to use the restroom in buckets and bags." "It's like a bunch of savages on there," he added. "If you get on the blogs, they're saying that people are fighting over food and stuff."

The disabled vessel, carrying more than 4,200 people, isn't expected to reach the shore until Thursday. Toby Barlow told CNN that his wife, Ann, a passenger on the ship, texted that the plumbing failed and people were defecating in bags and urinating in showers. She also told him there's "sewage running down the walls and floors," he said. "Elderly and handicap(ped people) are struggling," she texted, according to CNN. "The smells are gross."

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FACEBOOK Brent Nutt, husband of Carnival cruise passenger Bethany Nutt, told CNN that when he spoke with his crying wife, whose cell phone battery was dying with no power on the ship to charge it, she said that there were fights on board over food. Carnival, whose advertising tagline is All for fun, fun for all, confirmed that passengers were now facing a series of challenges aboard the the Triumph.

Currently, public and cabin toilets are operational in certain sections of the ship, power has been restored to a limited number of elevators and power in the Lido dining area is providing for hot coffee and limited food service, Carnival said in a statement posted to its website. Before power generators were able to re-start toilets aboard the boat, passengers were forced to use plastic bags, which they then turned over to crew members, the Wichita Business Journalreported. Melinda Ramos, the 19-year-old daughter of passengers Mary and Matt Ramos, told the Houston Chronicle that the fire and power outage had certainly altered her parents vacation.

HANDOUT/REUTERS After a fire in an engine room on Sunday, the Carnival Triumph was stranded at sea 150 miles off the coast of Mexico. The 4,200 passengers and crew abaord the crippled ship have been making do with no air conditioning and limited toilets. "He might be completely joking, but he said they're sleeping in tents outside," Ramos said. With the boats air-conditioning knocked out, temperatures inside the boat are quite hot, the Wichita Business Journal reported.

Other Carnival ships nearby have delivered food to the stricken Triumph, and the U.S. Coast Guard is monitoring the situation. The company says it will refund passengers for the cost of the cruise, as well as a future credit equal to the amount paid for the ill-fated voyage.