Montevideo/Rio de Janeiro  - A cruise ship carrying 1,429 passengers and 590 crew members was evacuated off the coast of Uruguay on Thursday after a fire broke out on board.

Costa Romantica, operated by Italy's Costa Cruises out of Brazil, suffered a mechanical problem that caused a fire to break out in a power generator overnight, but it was quickly brought under control. Efforts to repair the generator were unsuccessful.

Those on board were evacuated in boats to the resort town of Punta del Esta about 13 kilometres from where the ship had anchored and about 120 kilometres east of Uruguayan capital Montevideo, the coast guard said.

Alvaro Guinea, waterways police chief in the province around Punta del Este, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the cause of the mechanical glitch remained unknown.

Guinea said everyone aboard was safe.

The 54,000-ton, 220-metre-long cruise ship left Brazil for Buenos Aires and was to stop briefly in Punta del Este when the problem arose. The passengers were primarily Brazilians and Argentinians. (dpa)