Crippled Carnival Triumph cruise ship reaches US coast

More than 4,000 people are disembarking from a crippled cruise ship that reached land four days after an engine fire knocked out its power.

The Carnival Triumph was towed into port in Mobile, Alabama on Wednesday.

Unloading all 3,200 passengers is expected to take hours. Food, blankets and mobile phones await them in the terminal, a Carnival official has said.

Passengers had reported sewage on the floors, poor sanitation and access to toilets, and lengthy queues for food.

Some lined the decks as the 900-ft (275m) ship docked, waving and cheering at people on shore.

Chants of "Let me off, let me off!" could be heard coming from the ship as they waited to disembark.

Carnival Corp which operates the ship, was also the owner of Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground off the Italian coast and sank last year, killing 32 people.