Report: Four Irish among passengers on stricken cruise liner
There are reports that four Irish people are among the 100 passengers that had to be rescued from a stricken cruise liner in the Antarctic Ocean today.
The evacuation of the 2,400-tonne vessel MV Explorer came after it reportedly hit an iceberg and started listing near the South Shetland Islands, hundreds of miles south of Argentina.
The passengers were put into liferafts and transferred to the cruise ship Endeavour and another vessel, the Nord Norge, and were expected to be taken back to the port of Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina.
The vessel’s Toronto-based owners Gap Adventures has reported all the passengers were safe.
The captain and one member of the 54-strong crew were reported to be staying on the vessel and attempting to pump out water. Temperatures in the area, where the season is late spring, would be around -5C.
The passengers included four Irish, 14 Americans, 12 Canadians and 10 Australians, according to reports.
A spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs could not confirm that Irish people were on board the vessel, but stressed that they were in contact with relevant authorities.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said: “We have not had any reports of anyone seriously injured.
“We are still monitoring the situation closely and will provide full consular assistance as necessary.”
The collision, which caused a small hole in one of the cabins of the Canadian-owned, Liberian-flagged vessel, occurred in the early hours of today in temperatures of about minus 5C.
Owner G.A.P. Adventures, based in Toronto, said the M/S Explorer “hit ice” in the Bransfield Strait off King George Island, Antarctica, at 5.24am Irish time.
It added that all passengers and crew were safe and uninjured.
The company went on: “Standard procedures were followed by the crew with passengers calmly evacuated to the ship’s life rafts and then transferred to the NordNorge, which was in the area.”
There were reports that the master of the vessel and one of his officers stayed on the stricken vessel pumping out water.
G.A.P. Adventures said all the crew had now been transferred on to the NordNorge.
UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman Mark Clark said: “The vessel is in a poor way and its listing is getting worse.”
The 2,400-tonne vessel set out from the port of Ushuaia on Argentina’s southern tip on November 11 for a 19-day trip through the Drake Passage.
The Falmouth Coastguard in Cornwall joined US and Argentinian authorities in co-ordinating the rescue.
Four US vessels were in the vicinity at the time and sailed to offer assistance, with the rescue being run by staff at the US naval base at Norfolk, Virginia.
The Explorer is one of the best-known specialist cruise ships in the world.
It pioneered the market for Antarctic tours, which also take in South Atlantic highlights such as the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.
Typically, holidaymakers on the Explorer pay €6,200 per person for a trip that involves flights to and from Buenos Aires and then connecting flights to Ushuaia.
From there, the MV Explorer sails to the Antarctic Peninsula, before returning to Ushuaia.
