British Coast Guard Reports Sinking Cruise Liner in Antarctica; 154 Evacuated

British Coast Guard Reports Sinking Cruise Liner in Antarctica; 154 Evacuated

www.foxnews.com

More than 150 people have been evacuated from a ship that struck an object in Antarctic waters, Britain's Coast Guard said Friday.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is breaking news as of this post. More details to follow...

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

BBC has a bit more to say:

news.bbc.co.uk...

EDIT: Ok, here we go. Found some worthwhile information finally. The boat is called "MV Explorer", and ALL of the passengers and crew have been evacuated.

MV Explorer


[edit on 11/23/2007 by damajikninja]

From what I can see the rescue operation is ongoing. The passengers and crew haven't been evacuated yet. I wonder how fast the ship is sinking.

reply to post by Hellmutt

Here you go:
www.dailyecho.co.uk...

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

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

[edit on 11/23/2007 by damajikninja]

This article has a picture of the Explorer.


Cruiseliner sinking in Antarctic

reply to post by damajikninja


Ah, thanks. Seems like they are in lifeboats and waiting for the other ship to pick them up

From your source:

reply to post by Hellmutt

From what I read of the comments on my source, the red vessel we keep seeing everywhere is the "OLD" Explorer. The current one is blue (scroll up). Also, some people have reported that Noble Caledonia owns the ship, however that company states that they do not operate the vessel.
EDIT: Screw those goons! It IS the red ship after all!

From their website:

Noble Caledonia does NOT operate the Explorer and currently does not have any passengers on board. Explorer II is unaffected and operating as normal.

[edit on 11/23/2007 by damajikninja]

I don't think the passengers and crew are safe yet. This is an ongoing rescue operation. They are in life boats in freezing cold waters. I wonder if they hit an iceberg or a submarine...

Ok, it would seem that it IS in fact the "Little Red Ship" after all.

One of the best known expedition ships in the world, the MV Explorer was the first cruise vessel to travel through the infamous North West Passage. A specialist ship which entered service in the 1970s, it has a reinforced hull to enable it to cope with icy conditions.

Affectionately called “the Little Red Ship” by its many dedicated followers, it itself is no stranger to Antarctic rescue efforts. In 1989, it helped rescue people from a sinking Argentinean supply vessel that had hit a rock ledge off Anvers Island, Antartica.

www.timesonline.co.uk...

Yeah I agree Hellmutt... I get the feeling from these reports that something happened to the ship to start it sinking (hit something in the water), they all jumped into lifeboats, its way-below-freezing cold out there, and the nearest vessel is two hours away. At best, those poor folks are having a expletive deleted night.

EDIT: All sources are now saying that the captain and first officer are staying aboard the ship. So there are 100 passengers and 52 crew out in the lifeboats. Reports state that the ship is listing at 25degrees, and they expect her to sink soon. So are the captain and first officer planning to go down with her?? GET OFF DA BOAT!!

[edit on 11/23/2007 by damajikninja]

All those on lifeboats are now being picked up by another cruise ship, Endeavour.

A norwegian cruise ship, M/S Nordnorge, is heading to the area.


3 webcams from M/S Nordnorge here:
www.bt.no...



norwegian article


Photo: Atle Markeng/NRK

[edit on 2007/11/23 by Hellmutt]

Originally posted by Hellmutt
I don't think the passengers and crew are safe yet. This is an ongoing rescue operation. They are in life boats in freezing cold waters. I wonder if they hit an iceberg or a submarine...

Regardless of what they hit, sounds like great conditions for getting hypothermia, a possibly wet environment with really low air temperature, with a possibility of no ability to get warmer clothing or whatever they may need. Of course I don't know how good those lifeboats are, if they are the full enclosed ones which are seen on occasion then they should be ok.

Just found this quote on BBC news:

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.

Would explain why it is taking a while to sink anyway if that is the case.
source

Here's a map showing where the Explorer is/was:
link to map


And here's M/S Explorer:


Photo: from here

All passengers and crew have been rescued by the norwegian cruise ship M/S Nordnorge!

Snapshot from webcam 15 -20 minutes ago:



Source

This was all over the BBC breakfast news when I crumbled my croisant this morning. The BBC also mentioned that since this ship sails freezing waters on a regulary basis, its been constructed to withstand ice mountains and even crush through layers of thick ice. I supose they meant it just bumps of the ice mountains instead of breaking them

Anyway, if they really hit 'something' in the water that eventually made it sink it must have been something more powerful than an ice mountain. What can this have been? A rock, small under water island or maybe a silent attack? Speculating doesn't get us anywhere I know. Lets see if we can find out more on this thing/object 'hitting' the ship before it sank.

Someone sent this webcam shot in to Sky News - check out that list!

news.sky.com...

Its a shame there isn't that much attention to this topic. Na well...

what is this doing in ATS.

Shouldn't this be in BTS its just a standard news story.