and into some guests' rooms, was quickly attended to by hotel staff yesterday afternoon.

Hotel general manager John Murtha last night confirmed that a water pipe in a first floor corridor had burst and several guests had to be moved.

"The water pipe, in a plumbing closet on one of the guest floors, failed,'' he said. "Our engineers are handling the situation right now and we should be back to normal in a few hours. We did have to relocate some of our guests from the first floor of the Bay Wing who were minimally inconvenienced.'' "There has been a major sudden flood here,'' said guest Ron Johnson, "and all the staff are literally flocking around.'' "There is a lot of water here. It's like a movie, the Titanic , there is lots of water literally coming down the hall.'' As Mr. Johnson spoke to The Royal Gazette , hotel staff were informing him that guests were being relocated.

"They just told me that they're evacuating this wing,'' he said.

His first time staying at the Sonesta Beach Hotel, Mr. Johnson is vacationing in the Island with his family. He had nothing but praise for both the Sonesta and Bermuda.

The Bermuda Fire Service was alerted to the problem but said the hotel was able to cope with the flooding.