Four Irish rescued from Antartic cruise ship

Four Irish people were rescued from their stricken Antarctic Ocean cruise ship today after the vessel struck an iceberg.

They were among 100 passengers and 54 crew who were evacuated from the Explorer cruise ship which started to take on water.

Three Irish tourists and one crew member were among those who took to life rafts.

G.A.P Adventures, owners of the expedition ship, confirmed all passengers and crew were safe. No-one was injured.

The firm said the Explorer hit ice in the Bransfield Strait off King George Island, Antarctica at 5.24am GMT with temperatures of about minus 5C.

The collision caused a small hole in one of the cabins of the Canadian-owned, Liberian-flagged vessel.

Those on board took to life rafts and were eventually transferred to the NordNorge vessel that was in the area.

“Standard procedures were followed by the crew with passengers calmly evacuated to the ship’s life rafts and then transferred to The NordNorge which was in the area,” the Toronto-based company said.

Twenty-four Britons, 14 Americans, 12 Canadians and 10 Australians were also rescued.

Arnvid Hansen, captain of the NordNorge, said the passengers were transferred from their inflatable rafts on to the ships in one hour.

The passengers were cold, but not suffering from hypothermia, he said.

He said they were getting warm in the ship’s lounge and drying their clothes.

He said: “It was no problem to get them on board. They were picked up from the lifeboats on to the Explorer and the NordNorge and this operation took around one hour.

“The passengers they are in our premier lounge having warm food and drying their clothes on board.

“Some are cold but none has hypothermia. We are giving them as many clothes as we can.

“We are heading to King George Island where we may deliver them.

He said G.A.P Adventures was yet to decide whether the passengers would be dropped on the island, the largest in the south Shetlands, or taken to the mainland, some 36 hours away.

More than 90% of King George Island is ice, but there are a number of international air bases there, including those belonging to Germany, Brazil, Argentina, China and Russia and United States.

G.A.P Adventures said passengers’ families were being contacted by telephone.

The 2,400-tonne vessel set out from the port of Ushuaia on Argentina’s southern tip on November 11 for a 19-day trip through the Drake Passage.

Four US vessels were in the vicinity at the time and sailed to offer assistance, with the rescue being run by staff at the US naval base at Norfolk, Virginia.

The Explorer is one of the best-known specialist cruise ships in the world.