Nine killed in Kentucky house fire, authorities say

Nine people were killed early Thursday, Jan. 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children were killed when a fire ignited by an electric heater tore through a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine of an 11-member family were found dead in the house fire that erupted in a Muhlenberg County home in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State Police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in the single-story home, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State Police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and the eight children killed: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped the fire and were flown to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 miles away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a Vanderbilt Medical Center spokeswoman, said Chad Watson, 36, and Kylie Watson, 11, were both in critical but stable condition.

More than 12 hours after the fire, investigators determined that an electric baseboard heater ignited a combustible material accidentally left too close to the heat source, Recke said.

The temperature in Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree overnight, while the region is accustomed to 35 degree temperatures in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

“We normally don’t have weather like that,” said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors down from the devastated house. “They said when they was trying to put the fire out, the water was turning to ice,” she added.

Bennett said the house had no more than three bedrooms and that the eleven family members were “piled up” in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, a former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was “a nice young family.”

“Everybody loved the kids,” McElvain said.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

Members of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall's office look over the remains of a house fire in Muhlenberg County, Ky., Thursday Jan. 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at her house on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

“He went home, and then 10 hours later he’s gone.”

A neighbor called the fire department around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the house was “fully engulfed” when they arrive minutes later.

Crews put the fire out within an hour, Recke said. Still, “as I’m facing the house, the right side of the house is basically gone,” he added.

Recke said no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed his sympathies to the family and community from the senate floor on Thursday afternoon. “The entire Commonwealth stands beside Muhlenberg County right now, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you recover from this horrific loss.”

Nine people, including eight children, are feared dead after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. NBC News' Frances Kuo reports.

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:24 PM EST

Oklahoma teacher names son after student killed in tornado

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Sue Ogrocki / AP

Jennifer Rogers, left, and her husband Nyle Rogers, right, smile as they hold their baby Jack Nicolas Rogers, in their home in Edmond, Okla., Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014.

By Kristi Eaton, The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY — The school's wall collapsed onto Jennifer Doan Rogers as she desperately tried to protect her third-grade students as a tornado ripped through their Oklahoma community. The young teacher had laid one of her hands on Nicolas McCabe, a 9-year-old with an infectious grin.

But it wasn't enough to protect him.

The monstrous tornado leveled part of Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, killing six of her students — including Nicolas — last spring. Rogers, who was eight weeks pregnant at the time, lay buried under the rubble with a broken back.

"He was actually the closest one to me, that I had my hand on, that didn't make it," she said.

Seven months later, Rogers gave birth to a boy. She named him after Nicolas.

Rogers, 31, said she had been thinking about it for some time. She was unsure if it would bring her more sadness to name her own son after her former student, a little boy who loved riding his go-kart and, according to his father, never met a stranger. He also was very close to his mother.

Ultimately, Rogers said, she and her husband decided on Jack Nicolas.

The new mother hoped her infant son, who was born in December, would help in her recovery from the injuries — both physical and emotional — that she suffered during the storm. The top-tier EF5 tornado, with winds exceeding 200 mph, ripped a 17-mile path of devastation through the Oklahoma City suburb on May 20. The storm killed 24 people and destroyed dozens of homes and buildings, including two elementary schools.

Nicolas' father, Scott McCabe, struggles to talk about losing his only son. But he said that Nicolas, regardless of someone's age or gender, would befriend them. He often shared his lunches with his friends.

Learning that Nicolas' teacher was naming her own son after his brought a wave of emotions, McCabe said.

"It's real hard. He was my only son. I mean I'm honored, yes, but she was the last one to touch Nicolas," McCabe said as he broke down in tears. "I don't know how to put it, she was the last one to see my little boy. And it's still kind of hard."

Rogers, too, is still recovering. She suffered a fractured spine and sternum. She refused pain medication for fear it would harm her baby, and she wore a back brace for several weeks.

"It was a lot harder than my other pregnancies, for sure," said Rogers, who also has two daughters, ages 6 and 3. "I was so limited. I couldn't do a whole lot. For a while after everything happened I was in a full brace and carrying him and it just, I mean, it was rough."

But she is determined to complete the necessary work to go back into the classroom. Though she knows it will be tough, she said she hopes to get approval to return to teaching next school year — at Plaza Towers.

The school is being rebuilt, this time with reinforced safe rooms that can withstand powerful storms.

"I just feel like there's a lot of me in there still," Rogers said. "I would think it's hard at the same time, but it'll be a new year and a new building."

© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

'Absolute cop-out': Heated forecasters blow back at Ga. officials' weather blame game

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"There was plenty of time to make those adjustments for any kind of snow removal" in Atlanta, NBC's Al Roker said.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

Under fire from Georgia government officials caught flatfooted by the winter storm that socked the South this week, weather forecasters are mad as heck and want them know: They're not going to take it anymore.

With the capital city, Atlanta, paralyzed by less than 3 inches of snow, Georgia officials complained that they weren't warned what was on the way Tuesday:

"We have been confronted with an unexpected storm that hit the metropolitan area," Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said Tuesday night.Wednesday, he said, "There's not anybody in this room who could have predicted to the degree and magnitude the problem that developed."Later Wednesday, he said: "If we closed the city of Atlanta and our interstate system based on maybes, then we would not be a very productive government or a city. We can't do it based on the maybes."Asked why the city didn't deploy sanders and plows until eight hours after the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning early Tuesday, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed called such criticisms "Monday morning quarterbacking."

The National Weather Service wouldn't comment, but other experts were quick to leap to its defense.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong," Marshall Shepherd, president of the American Meteorological Society, said of critics who alleged that the weather service botched its forecasts. 

In a post on a blog he set up Wednesday specifically to defend the performance of forecasting services this week, Shepherd pointed out that the weather service issued watches and warnings well before the storm arrived, providing plenty of time for Georgia officials to make the right decisions.

"Yet, as soon as I saw what was unfolding with kids being stranded in schools, 6+ hour commutes, and other horror stories, I knew it was coming, I knew it. Some in the public, social medial or decision-making positions would 'blame' the  meteorologists," Shepherd wrote in a post titled "An Open Thank You to Meteorologists in Atlanta."

NBC News meteorologist Al Roker agreed.

"The mayor and the governor got on TV yesterday  and said all this wasn't expected, and that's not true," Roker said Wednesday on TODAY.

Roker and other meteorologists pointed out that the weather service issued its warning for metro Atlanta at 3:38 a.m. Tuesday — meaning "they were warned about it, and they should have been prepared for it," Roker said. "It's a shame. It really is."

Scrolling through the weather service's reports for the last few days reveals that its forecasters were sounding the alarm of possible "widespread ice accumulations" across the South as early as Saturday — "expanding into the Southeast U.S. Tuesday into Wednesday":

National Weather Service

Which is exactly what happened.

On Monday — a day before the first snowflake fell — the weather service warned of snow and possible heavy snow right across north Georgia:

National Weather Service

Which is also exactly what happened.

At 3:22 p.m. Monday, the weather service issued an advisory that specifically there was a potential "for 2 inches of snow and up to a half-inch of sleet from Atlanta to Athens."

Once again: exactly what happened.

"It absolutely breaks my heart," said Jim Cantore, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.

"There are certainly chances that you take with this inexact science of forecasting a winter storm warning," Cantore said Wednesday. But this time, "the National Weather Service was absolutely spot-on with this."

"It's just an absolute cop-out," he said, telling Georgia officials: 

"Admit you're wrong. Admit you took a chance to save some money and you blew it. You blew it. And now, people are suffering, unfortunately, in the city of Atlanta."

Nine fear dead, inluding 8 children, in Kentucky house fire

Nine people were killed early Thursday, Jan. 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children were killed when a fire ignited by an electric heater tore through a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine of an 11-member family were found dead in the house fire that erupted in a Muhlenberg County home in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State Police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in the single-story home, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State Police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and the eight children killed: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped the fire and were flown to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 miles away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a Vanderbilt Medical Center spokeswoman, said Chad Watson, 36, and Kylie Watson, 11, were both in critical but stable condition.

More than 12 hours after the fire, investigators determined that an electric baseboard heater ignited a combustible material accidentally left too close to the heat source, Recke said.

The temperature in Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree overnight, while the region is accustomed to 35 degree temperatures in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

“We normally don’t have weather like that,” said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors down from the devastated house. “They said when they was trying to put the fire out, the water was turning to ice,” she added.

Bennett said the house had no more than three bedrooms and that the eleven family members were “piled up” in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, a former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was “a nice young family.”

“Everybody loved the kids,” McElvain said.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

Members of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall's office look over the remains of a house fire in Muhlenberg County, Ky., Thursday Jan. 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at her house on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

“He went home, and then 10 hours later he’s gone.”

A neighbor called the fire department around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the house was “fully engulfed” when they arrive minutes later.

Crews put the fire out within an hour, Recke said. Still, “as I’m facing the house, the right side of the house is basically gone,” he added.

Recke said no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed his sympathies to the family and community from the senate floor on Thursday afternoon. “The entire Commonwealth stands beside Muhlenberg County right now, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you recover from this horrific loss.”

Nine people, including eight children, are feared dead after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. NBC News' Frances Kuo reports.

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:24 PM EST

Gridlock baby, dangerous waits, Candy Crush: Stories from the South's epic snow jam

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Tim Dougherty

Stalled traffic on Interstate 285 outside Atlanta on Thursday morning.

By Erik Ortiz, Erin McClam and Lou Dubois, NBC News

A rare winter storm hatched a nightmare traffic jam that paralyzed parts of the South — especially the city of Atlanta — that was ongoing nearly 24 hours after it began.

Here are some stories from the stranded:

'I didn't know where my 10-year-old daughter was'

Almost 24 hours after she left work, Jennifer Wilkins was finally close to her Atlanta area home Wednesday afternoon.

Jennifer Wilkins has been stranded in her car for more than 20 hours because of the snow and ice in the South. She tells NBC's Andrea Mitchell about it.

She had at least one steep hill left to navigate and figured that she might just hike the final quarter-mile.

She left work at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. For about 12 hours, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., she was "parked on the interstate," she said.

The gas tank worried her. She said she turned the car off for 15 to 30 minutes at a time, "depending on how long I could stand it before I was too cold. Then I would turn it on for 15 minutes to warm up."

But the worst part was a stretch Tuesday afternoon. Wilkins thought her daughter, who is 10, had been sent home from school, but her son reported that she never showed up. It was five hours later when Wilkins learned that the girl had been dropped off safely at a local middle school.

"I didn't know where she was," Wilkins said, breaking down in tears in an interview from her car on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports." "From 1:45 in the afternoon until 6:45 last night, I didn't know where my 10-year-old daughter was."

'Just praying we get home safe'

Vontana Atkins, a wellness coordinator with United Cerebral Palsy of Georgia, said she had been stuck on Interstate 285, near the suburb of Marietta, since 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

She was driving five men to their group home, a trip that should have taken 40 minutes. The men suffer various mental and physical disabilities, she said. They didn't all have their medications with them, and they've been without food and water.

"They're tired and they're hungry, but so far, so good," Atkins said. "I've been talking to them and encouraging them that we're getting there."

Traffic was at a standstill Wednesday morning. Atkins did have a cellphone charger with her and was able to call her office and relatives of the men to let them know how they're faring.

"I called 911 several times, too, but they've been busy," she said. "We're just praying we get home safe."

They've been biding their time watching videos on Atkins' iPad and listening to gospel and country music. One thing Atkins hasn't gotten — sleep.

"I can't. I need to make sure everyone's OK," she said.

Starving and biding time

Tim Dougherty left downtown Atlanta for his home in the suburbs about 3 p.m. Tuesday. He didn't make it home for 26 hours.

The trip normally takes half an hour.

"Taillights. I just see taillights," Dougherty told NBC News by phone from I-285 earlier in the morning. "I have not moved an inch in 15 hours."

Dougherty has lived in the Atlanta area for 17 years but grew up in Indiana, so he's used to ice storms and blizzards.

"But I've never seen anything like this," he said. "I've got to say for a city, this is an epic failure."

By morning, a few people were walking down the interstate offering snacks and water. Dougherty was lucky enough to start with a full tank of gas, although he said he was down to half a tank and idling. He also had a phone charger — and "I am dominating Candy Crush."

Born into gridlock

Nick and Amy Anderson

A baby born on the side of the road in Sandy Springs, Ga., to parents Nick and Amy Anderson.

Tim Sheffield, a police officer in Sandy Springs, Ga., was on his way to check out a traffic accident when he saw a car on the side of the road. The occupants didn't look like they were stuck. He pulled over to check on them.

"I asked the dad: 'Are y'all broke down?' He goes, 'No, we're having a baby,'" Sheffield said.

It was a couple on their way to the hospital. The man was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. The woman was in labor.

Sheffield said he talked them through the delivery of a girl. The woman "did about 99 percent of it, and the father did a lot," he recalled.

"I had time to get the gloves," he said Wednesday in an interview on TODAY. "The father started to pull. I said, 'No, don't pull,' and the baby came out and just happened quick. It was beautiful, and it was on my birthday."

He said the new mother kept her cool the whole time.

"She was a trouper," he said. "She didn't have any anesthesia or anything, any medication or anything. It was 100 percent natural, but she did amazing. She really did."

Journey of peril

Friends Robert Warthen Jr. and James Hunt, both 52, left Atlanta at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and were heading home to Smyrna when they got stuck in the monster gridlock. The drive should have taken 30 minutes.

Warthen said his car's battery died, and they remained stuck on the side of the road along State Route 401 on Wednesday morning.

"We're freezing to death. I'm shaking. I can't feel my feet," Warthen said, his voice choked with emotion.

Earlier in the night, the friends went to a hotel in Marietta, but they didn't have the $159 for a room. Warthen said he saw people smashing windows of parked cars and stealing items, and they decided to leave.

After getting stranded, they repeatedly called AAA but couldn't get through.

"They could pick up the phone and say something!" Warthen said. "Not treat us like we're trash. The government's going to have a lot to answer for."

Stranded trucker: Never seen anything like it

Joe Schmitz, a trucker, was driving from Miami to Atlanta and was almost there when he got stuck at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. More than 20 hours later, he said he hadn't moved.

"I've been driving a truck for 14 years, and I've never with my own eyes witnessed something like this," he told NBC News by phone.

He said that he knew of at least one baby who was stuck in a car without diapers — although Schmitz said he found one for her — and that truckers were taking people in to keep them warm. A truck can run for days on idle, he said.

"There are some people who are really kind of scared," he said, but he added that nobody had a bad attitude.

About 2 a.m., he said, he walked two miles to a gas station, filled five or six bags with food and drinks, walked back and gave them to the stranded.

He said he had been told by authorities that the crisis could stretch through a second night.

Finally to school — and then stuck there

Katie Ganske, a psychologist who works in the city, got an email from E. Rivers Elementary School about 2 p.m. Tuesday. After-school classes were canceled. She got in her car to retrieve her child.

"I looked it up later — it was seven miles, and it took me 8½ hours," she told NBC station WXIA of Atlanta.

By the time she arrived, just before 11 p.m., she decided to stay the night with the roughly 100 kids who were stranded at the elementary school. Her car had spun out on the drive over.

Brave rescue

Neighbors, churches and grocery stores took in strangers. And Chipper Jones, the Atlanta Braves' retired and beloved third baseman, took to his 4-wheeler and rescued a former teammate who was stranded.

It started Tuesday afternoon, when Freddie Freeman, the Braves' current first baseman, tweeted that he was stuck in the brutal jam:

Going on 5 and a half hours in this traffic! Atlanta traffic is the worst but then you add snow...woah!!

— Freddie Freeman (@FreddieFreeman5) January 28, 2014

By late Tuesday night, Jones' girlfriend decided to send him on a rescue mission:

The cavalry arrived:

The rescue was a success:

A memorable night for both of them:

Read more at NBC Sports' HardballTalk.

Out of traffic and jumping in to help

Sheneka Adams of Atlanta was stuck in the traffic Tuesday for four hours.

Even though she was tired, she woke up Wednesday and rushed out the door. Adams, an actress and socialite, volunteers every Wednesday with the group Kashi Atlanta to help out at a homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine streets.

With the winter storm bearing down, she realized there would be an influx of people looking for food and warmth. She was right. There were 500 people, including children, needing a meal.

Adams and her boyfriend, Jacob York, jumped into his Jeep Cherokee and drove to Publix, where they filled an entire cart with water, bologna, cheese and bread.

"I would say we bought out the whole aisle of bread," she told NBC News.

There were so many people that Adams made a second trip to the grocery store.

"Obviously, people have a lot of things going on today," Adams said. "But I couldn't just sit home. There are people out there who still need help."

Nadia Sikander of NBC News contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:55 AM EST

Ask Federal penalty of death against the bomber accused Boston Tsarnaev

FBI via Reuters

Suspect in bombing of Marathon Boston Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is pictured in a photo without date of alms from the FBI.

By Pete Williams, NBC News correspondent justice

The Justice Department has notified a federal judge he intends to seek the death penalty if a jury convicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of bombings last April at the Boston Marathon.

Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on charges that he and his brother built and put two pumps of pot to pressure that killed three people and injured at least 260 people. He is also accused of killing a police officer in the MIT campus.

Liz Norden, the mother of Boston bombing victims, responding to the news that the Justice Department will seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if they condemn it.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement: "after consideration of the relevant facts, applicable standards and the proposals made by the counsel for the accused, have determined that United States will seek the death penalty in this case. The nature of the conduct in question and the damage forcing this decision."

Among the factors listed by the Government were that the murders were intentional, as a result of acts calculated to cause severe risks to public safety and were committed in a cruel manner. And prosecutors said that the defendant has not demonstrated any remorse.

"One way or another, based on the evidence, Tsarnaev to die in jail," Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement. "At every milestone of this case - the announcement of today, judgment, and every other important step in the process of Justice - people hurt by the bombing of Marathon and the rest of us as surprised by what will relive this tragedy." The best thing we can do is to remind one that we are a community that is stronger than ever, and that nothing can break that spirit."

Liz Norden, the mother of two men who lost her legs in the attack, praised the decision.

"You know, it makes me feel relieved that the Attorney general believes that it was a terrorist attack or the death penalty, and we support the decision," said Norden Craig Melvin of MSNBC.

He said officials of the Department of Justice spoke with relatives of the victims before making the decision.

While most legal experts predicted that the Justice Department would seek the death penalty, the decision will be somewhat controversial.

A survey conducted in September by the Boston Globe found that 57 percent of respondents favored a sentence of life without parole if Tsarnaev should be condemned, while 33 percent believed that death would be appropriate for the Government to seek punishment.

Dan Lampariello / Reuters

Explosion in the Boston Marathon, on April 15, 2013.

The executions in the federal system are rare.  In the modern era of the death penalty, since the United States Supreme Court forced a change in sentencing laws in the mid-1970s, the federal Government has carried out three executions.

Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death in 2001 for his role in the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. The most recent federal execution was more than one decade ago.

The federal system has placed on hold by a battle in court the combination of drugs used to administer a lethal injection. One of the drugs is no longer available, forcing the Bureau of prisons to consider alternatives.

In the event of a conviction and a recommendation of a death sentence, the execution by lethal injection would be held in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana

A trial date has not been established for Tsarnaev. His next hearing is on February 12.

Legal experts have said seeking the death penalty against Tsarnaev could give an incentive to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.

This story was originally posted on Thu January 30, 2014 3:21 PM EST

Bug-ridden cruise ship returns to port — with sick bay overflowing

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John Makely / NBC News

Passengers look out from the Explorers of the Sea as it returns to port.

John Makely / NBC News

The Explorer of the Seas heads to port in Bayonne, N.J. on Wednesday.

By Henry Austin and Hasani Gittens, NBC News

They made it.

An illness-ridden cruise ship returned home Wednesday, an abbreviated end to a brutal voyage in which 600 passengers and crew were struck down by a fast-moving stomach bug.

The Royal Caribbean liner The Explorer of the Seas pulled into port in Bayonne, N.J., just after 1 p.m. The 10-day cruise was cut short after suspected norovirus left passengers and workers stricken with vomiting and diarrhea.

One woman aboard the ship yelled, "We made it!" as the ship docked. Other passengers, with blankets wrapped around them, stood on deck to watch the ship pull in. 

A Royal Caribbean cruise packed with sick passengers is due back in a N.J. port today. The cruise was cut short after more than 600 passengers and crew members fell ill. Experts believe it could be the Norovirus.

Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention boarded the ship during its port call in the U.S. Virgin Islands to investigate the illness but tests have not yet confirmed the cause. The cruise line said its doctors reported symptoms were consistent with norovirus.

The ship carrying 3,050 passengers and 1,165 crew members departed Tuesday from Cape Liberty, N.J. and had planned to stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

Some people on the ship recovered after illnesses in the first days of the cruise, but Royal Caribbean Cruise Line officials said Sunday that the disruptions caused by the wave of sickness meant they were “unable to deliver the vacation our guests were expecting,” and consultation with medical experts prompted an early return.

CNBC's Simon Hobbs speaks with Royal Caribbean Cruises Chairman & CEO Richard Fain about how he keeps his business afloat amid controversy.

Cruise officials said they will sanitize the ship again and that guests scheduled for the next trip on Explorer of the Seas could be confident that all measures had been taken to prevent future illness.  No one will be allowed aboard for a period of more than 24 hours as an extra precaution, the cruise line said.

The CDC said it recommended to Royal Caribbean that people who still have symptoms be housed in nearby hotels or seen at medical facilities before traveling home.

The cruise line said it is providing all guests a 50 percent refund of their cruise fares and an additional 50 percent future cruise credit. It's also reimbursing airline change fees and accommodations for guests who had to change plans for traveling home. 

The CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Richard Fain told CNBC in a Monday interview that it was “a very unfortunate incident,” adding their people had responded quickly and aggressively to the outbreak.

“We screen our passengers as best we can,” he said.  

Norovirus — once known as Norwalk virus — is highly contagious. It can be picked up from an infected person, contaminated food or water or by touching contaminated surfaces. Sometimes mistaken for the stomach flu, the virus causes bouts of vomiting and diarrhea for a few days. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Related: 

This story was originally published on Wed Jan 29, 2014 2:59 PM EST