Over the weekend, a cruise ship operating near Antarctica stuck ice and went down in the cold waters of the South Polar Seas. The ship began taking on water and 90 minutes after striking the iceberg, the captain ordered an evacuation, forcing the 154 passengers and crew into life rafts, where they were later picked up by a Norwegian cruise liner in the area. They spent six hours in the rafts before rescue.
The tour was operated by GAP Adventures, one of the most well known, and trusted names in adventure travel. The company has already promised it’s clients a full refund on the trip and obviously this will put future trips to the area in doubt for awhile.
You can read more about the incident in this story at ThePoles.com with a follow up with pictures being posted today.
This is actually a trip I would enjoy. Much of the time was to be spent watching whales and penguins in and around Antarctica and the Falkland Islands. It’s kind of crazy in this day and age to think about passenger liners going down due to hitting ice. With modern technology you would think that it wouldn’t be much of an issue, but clearly it’s still a dangerous situation at times. I’m sure somewhere James Cameron is already preparing a script.
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Anete Smith