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Asia Pacific
Passengers rescued as cruise ship hits ice in Antarctic
A cruise ship has evacuated all passengers after hitting ice in the remote Antarctic Ocean.
About 100 passengers on the MS Explorer have been taken off the vessel in lifeboats and transferred to another ship with no reported casualties.
The ship is owned by Canadian adventure travel operator GAP Adventures which caters for clients from Canada, the US and UK. More than 20 British passengers are reported to have been on board.
A spokeswoman for the Toronto-based operator denied reports that Explorer was sinking. However, Explorer was later photographed listing at 30 degrees.
She confirmed that the ship hit ice and started taking on water through a “small hole the size of a fist” but pumps were being used to stop it from going under.
“Passengers were taken onto lifeboats and were transferred to another ship. everyone has been accounted for,” she said.
The vessel hit trouble off King George Island near the Antarctic Peninsula.
The company spokeswoman was unable to confirm the nationality of passengers on the ship which started its journey from Ushuaia in Argentina on November 11.
The US coastguard is reported to be co-ordinating a rescue operation with authorities in Ushuaia.
MS Explorer is known to date back to the early 1970s as the first custom-built expedition ship carrying a maximum of 100 passengers.
The ship is also chartered to a number of operators running Antarctic voyages.
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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