Ice-rescue tourists to fly home

[Samishlol]

Ice-rescue tourists to fly home

The Explorer lay on its side in the frozen seas for several hours

Passengers rescued from a cruise ship that sank after hitting ice in the Antarctic Ocean are expected to start their journeys home within hours.

The 154 tourists and crew from the M/S Explorer have been spending the night at a military base on a Chilean island.

They are due to be flown to Chile and then to their home countries. The ship's operator Gap Adventures said they were in "good spirits".

Some 23 Britons, 17 Dutch and 13 Americans were among those on board.
There were also 10 Australians and 10 Canadians and other nationalities included Irish, Danish, Swiss, Belgian, Japanese, French, German and Chinese, said Gap Adventures, a Toronto-based tour company.

Graphic: Key facts about M/S Explorer

All 91 passengers, nine guides and 54 crew members were safely evacuated to lifeboats, and then to another ship, after the Explorer was holed close to the South Shetland Islands, in the Antarctic Ocean.

It listed, lay on its side for some hours and by Friday night the Chilean navy said it had sunk.

'Seaworthy'

Following the news of the incident, the specialist Lloyds List maritime publication said the 2,400-tonne Explorer had had five faults at its last inspection.

However, the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), whose inspectors found the faults, said that they had all been rectified by the time the ship set sail again.

We all got a little nervous when the ship began to list sharply and the lifeboats still hadn't been lowered
John Cartwright
passenger



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"These were not huge problems and were all rectified before the vessel sailed. It would not have been allowed to depart if everything had not been sorted out," MCA spokesman Mark Clarke said. A Gap Adventures spokesman, John Warner, said the ship, which had been sailing in polar waters since the 1960s, had been certified as seaworthy only last month.

"The ship obviously goes through an annual rigorous inspection by the marine authorities," he told BBC News.

"What I am pleased to say is that the safety procedures for such an incident were adhered to, and all the passengers and crew are safe and well - and that's obviously of most importance to us as a company."

Below freezing

The tour group had embarked from Ushuaia, on Argentina's southern tip, on 11 November for a 19-day "Spirit of Shackleton" cruise through the Drake Passage, costing from around $8,000 (£3,900) per cabin.

The ship ran into trouble approximately 120km (75 miles) north of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The company said pumps had been used in an effort to stop the ship sinking, but in the meantime the captain gave the order to abandon ship, and passengers were transferred to lifeboats.

After several hours bobbing on the sea amid floating sheets of ice, they were plucked to safety by the Norwegian cruise ship, the Nordnorge.
Coastguards said although the weather conditions were good for this time of year, the average temperature was still -5C.

Speaking just after the rescue, passenger John Cartwright said: "We were in a lifeboat in fairly rough seas, strong winds.

"We all got a little nervous when the ship began to list sharply and the lifeboats still hadn't been lowered.

"We feel very relieved now. We're all sort of unwinding and happy to be up here warm and dry." M/S EXPLORER

Built: 1969, Finland
Capacity: 100 passengers
Tonnage: 2,400 Cruising speed: 11 knots
Engines: 3,800 hp diesels
Crew: 54
First custom-built expedition ship
Known as the 'Little Red Ship' to aficionados
Became the first passenger vessel to navigate the North West passage in 1984
Involved in rescue of crew from Argentine cargo vessel off Anvers Island, Antarctica, in 1989


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[le harry]

great.