Cruise Ship Rescued
- February 19th, 2009
- Posted by Daniel Challis
Over a 100 passengers, including seven Australians, were on a cruise ship that ran aground in Antarctica two days ago (16.2.09).
The Ocean Nova, also carrying 17 Britons, became trapped near an Argentine navy base due to a low tide…
PASSENGERS SAFE
The Argentine navy said there was no loss of fuel or risk to the people on board the Bahamas-flagged ship.
“All aboard continue to be safe and there is still no sign of leakage of any kind,” the US-based tour operator Quark Expeditions said.
The navy said the passengers would be moved to another one of the company’s ships to be transported to Ushuaia in Southern Argentina.
Attempts to get the vessel afloat on a rising tide on Wednesday failed due to strong winds.
It is the second rescue effort mounted in just two months for a cruise ship.
Last December the Chilean navy rescued 89 passengers from an Argentine cruise ship, which ran aground off the Antarctic coast in Wilhelmina Bay.
Tourism to the Antarctic region has dramatically increased since the early 1990’s.
Around 46000 people cruised to the Antarctic last season according the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators.
Reference:
BBC News, ‘Antarctic ship to be evacuated’,18.2.09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7897485.stm, (19.2.09).
Reuters, ‘Passengers on stranded ship evacuated’, 18.2.09.
Picture:
M/S Explorer, Antarctic cruise ship sunk in 2007, www.ipy.org