Cruise ship sinking in Antarctic Ocean

Dyflin

Dyflin

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Passengers have been evacuated from a sinking cruise ship in the Antarctic Ocean.

The drama happened when the ship, called MV Explorer, has reportedly hit an unknown object.
The captain and his first mate are still on board the vessel which currently has a 25 degree list.

All 100 passengers and 54 crew on the ship have been transferred to life boats.

Another ship called Antarctic Dream, in the area, has been diverted to assist rescue services.
The ship, operated by expedition cruise specialists Noble Caledonia, was built in 1970 and is specially ice strengthened.

The emergency operation which is happening more than 2,000 miles of the Falkland Islands, is being monitored by coastguards based in Falmouth.

http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/hamp...rctic_ocean.php

MV_Explorer.jpg
 
You beat me to it by about 10 seconds ,I have deleted my post .Fingers crossed that all are rescued safely.Any idea what the weather is there?
 
"Noble Caledonia does NOT operate the Explorer and currently does not have any passengers on board. Explorer II is unaffected and operating as normal."

So the right ship, the same passengers and the same underwater obstruction, just not the right office... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I was there three years ago - we had lots of blue skies and sunny weather, and also storms, sleet, horizontal snow. VERY changeable, very quickly. I wouldn't have wanted to be in a liferaft there, but they're fibreglass and better than the sea (which I did sample, very quickly .... brrrrrr!).

Hope - and I'm sure - they'll all be rescued asap. The area is, relatively speaking, littered with cruise ships in convoy.

S x
 
Totally unrelated :my wifes niece went to terra de fuego for her honymoon,was a time when the canaries was the most popular destination,people should not be allowed to visit these remote areas without a bit of personal endevour else over time there will be no wilderness left!
 
2,000 miles south of the Falklands sounds a heck of a long way to a Solent sailor like myself.
Forumites may be interested to know that a friend of mine, Angus cater, is presently sailing down to the South Shetland Islands where he plans to complete the final and fatal expedition of legendary explorer Bill Tilman. The objective is to climb some mountain in Smith Island. Details on www.smithisland.co.uk . Sounds a bit hairy.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Totally unrelated :my wifes niece went to terra de fuego for her honymoon,was a time when the canaries was the most popular destination,people should not be allowed to visit these remote areas without a bit of personal endevour else over time there will be no wilderness left!

[/ QUOTE ]

There's a mixed blessing here - the cruise ships are getting bigger for economies of scale. The one I was on sounds as if it was about the same size as the one sinking (no of passenger and crew). Big cruise ships (2000 souls) can't ferry the passengers on and off the areas visited quite so much, so they're likely to be in better nick (not worn out with footprints). The concern over keeping the areas pristine, and the wildlife unaffected was pretty strict. The captains of the ships operate a rota, so that no one place is visited by more than one ship at any one time. I saw only one other ship during three weeks.

OK - so I didn't have to trek there, nor face hardships, frostbite - nor indeed a sinking. I had a simply mind blowing experience - when I say out of this world, oh yes, a frozen planet.

S x
 
I suppose its just another example of how small the world really is!! they didt send a postcard so we should count are blessings! ......they may have forgot
 
Looks like two other small ships in the background (white coloured). Look too big (and white) to be lifeboats. Ocean going trawlers?
 
Ah, looks like you're right, seeing it enlarged, thanks. Presume she may have hit one of those. They look big enough to do lots of damage but small enough to be potentially hard to detect.
 
From the Beeb:

"The M/S Explorer hit a lump of ice off King George Island this morning and the impact left the vessel with a crack in the hull the size of a fist.

"All passengers and crew have been evacuated, they are all accounted for and are safe and well and have been transferred to another vessel."

Ms Hayes said the ship was taking on water and that pumps were being used to stop the ship, which she said had an eight-degree list, from sinking.
 
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