This was published 15 years ago
Australians rescued from stuck Antarctic ship
The Ocean Nova seen stranded near the Argentine San Martin base..Credit: Reuters
More than 70 passengers and crew from Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada and several other countries were being rescued on Wednesday from a cruise ship that ran aground off Antarctica, Argentine officials said.
They were being transferred from the ship Ocean Nova to a sister cruise liner that was to take them to the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia, the Argentine navy said in a statement.
"The operation is being carried out using semi-rigid boats," it said.
The US company that runs both the ships, Quark Expeditions, and the Argentine navy have said all of the people from the stricken vessel were unhurt and in no danger.
Ocean Nova became immobilised on Tuesday close to the Argentine research base San Martin on Millerand Island in Marguerite Bay, on the western side of the Antarctic peninsula reaching towards South America.
It was believed either the low tide or icebergs caused it to become stuck.
A Spanish oceanographic ship and the sister cruise ship, Clipper Adventurer, had gone to the scene to give assistance.
The Argentine navy said Ocean Nova had been carrying 104 people: 74 passengers and 30 crew members.
But Quark Expeditions put the total at 106: 65 passengers, 30 crew members and 11 expedition staff who looked after the passengers on trips ashore.
The company, based in the US state of Connecticut, said the ship had been on a two-week cruise costing up to 18,290 dollars per passenger.
It listed the nationalities of all those on board as: 21 Americans, 18 Filipinos, 17 Britons, eight Canadians, seven Australians, five Irish, five South Africans, four Germans, three Danish (including the captain), three Dutch, three New Zealanders, two Argentines, two Ukrainians, one Swiss, one Romanian, one Panamanian, one Guatemalan, one Colombian, one Russian, one Indonesian, one Honduran.
"There is still no sign of leakage of any kind. Quark does not anticipate any environmental impact," Quark Expeditions said in a statement, adding that Ocean Nova's hull would be inspected for damage as soon as it was freed.
Ocean Nova was built in 1992 to navigate the icy waters around Greenland. Quark took it over in 2006. It is registered in the Bahamas.
The company said high winds had prevented two attempts by the crew of Ocean Nova to free the ship at high tide on Tuesday. Another attempt was to be made Wednesday.
The incident was the fourth accident involving a passenger ship in Antarctica in just over a year.
Last December, an Argentine-run vessel, Ciudad de Ushuaia, ran aground. The Chilean navy rescued its 89 passengers.
In December 2007, a Norwegian-run liner, Fram, drifted with 256 passengers on board after its engines failed.
A month earlier, the ship Explorer hit an iceberg and sank. The 154 people on board were rescued.
Cruises to Antarctic glaciers are becoming increasingly popular, with some 46,000 tourists joining such tours last season, about double the figure of five years ago, according to the Association of Antarctic Tour Operators.
AFP
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