Sinking cruiseliner is evacuated

British coastguards are rescuing passengers from a sinking cruiseliner off Argentina's coast.
The Explorer is reported to have hit an object in the Antarctic Ocean, near the South Shetland Islands.

Andy Cattrell, of the Falmouth Coastguard, said about 100 passengers and 54 crew members have been evacuated and are in lifeboats.

The captain and the chief officer are understood to have remained on board the cruiseliner.

From the BBC 0924GMT:

Cruise boat sinking off Argentina
Passengers and crew members are being rescued from a sinking cruise liner off Argentina's coast.
The MV Explorer is reported to have hit an object in the Antarctic Ocean, near the South Shetland Islands.

Andy Cattrell, of the Falmouth Coastguard, told the BBC about 100 passengers and 54 crew members have been evacuated and are in lifeboats.

The captain and the chief officer are understood to have remained on board the vessel, which was built in 1969.

Mr Cattrell said the weather conditions were "fairly good" for this time of year, but it would be cold.

Damaged hull

"You certainly don't want anyone in the water. As they're all in lifeboats they should be fairly secure for the short-term at least," he said.

He did not know what caused the sinking, but said: "It's something fairly strong to damage the hulls."

Neil Oliver, of the coast guard station at Falmouth, England, told AP news agency the liner was about to sink.

"They do expect her to go down shortly," he said.

British coastguards are helping to co-ordinate the rescue operation.

The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the vessel had a 25 degree list.

The MCA was informed at 0524 GMT on Friday of the incident involving the 2,400-tonne vessel.

A rescue operation is being co-ordinated by the US Coastguard in Norfolk, Virginia, with the authorities in Ushuaia, Argentina.

Another ship called Antarctic Dream, which is in the area, has been diverted to help the rescue.

[ 11-23-2007: Message edited by: P&OOfficer ]

According to a Sky News report at 9.00am (UK time) 154 people have abandoned ship with the master and first officer remaining onboard. The 1969-built ship is understood have hit an object and is listing at 25 degrees.

A Rescue operation has begun after a cruiseship hit an object in the Antarctic Ocean, near the South Shetland Islands.

The 1969-built Explorer registered to Gap Shipping, a subsidiary of Gap Adventures is reported to be sinking and listing at 25 degrees.

Andy Cattrell, of the Falmouth Coastguard, said about 100 passengers and 54 crew members have been evacuated and are in lifeboats.

The captain and the chief officer are understood to have remained on board the vessel.

Earlier reports from Gap Adventures said the vessel was holed in Cabin 314 and water then went down into the separator room.

US Coastguard reported at 0700hrs that Argentina has sent two vessels to assist, which are due on the scene in two hours

V.Ships president Roberto Giorgi said the vessel was managed by V.Ships Leisure until November 2006, when Gap Shipping took management in-house.

Although V.Ships Leisure still handles crewing for the vessel, and has around 60 crew members attached to it, mostly from the Phillipines. The captain is believed to be a Swedish national.

Hope its just that the Nordnorge has moved and the Explorer hasn't sunk.

Cruise lines take note, Explorer is ice classified and is sinking because she hit a small berg which opened up her hull. Golden Princess and other similar large vessels from Celebrity, HAL etc are not ice classified and it is about time you all realised the fact. Antartica is not a suitable place for any of you to cruise, rescuing 154 people from a small ship is one thing, to try and rescue 2600 pax plus a 1000 crew in what is a remote area far from land with only infrequent smaller ships perchance near by would be nigh on impossible.

For safety reasons and environmental reasons ships carrying more than 400 pax and 200 crew should immediately be banned from these waters. Some cruise lines are confusing profit with safety.

I understand the desire by pax to go there, it is the only continent I have yet to visit myself and I would love to go but........

As the Princess cruise ships cruise amongst the ice in Alaska, with no problems, I expect the company feels there would not be a problem with their ships visiting the Antartic.

Has anyone heard if the Captain and other officer were also taken off the mv ' Explorer ' with the passengers, as reports seem to suggest that the flooding has been stopped.

Assuming there is power available on board, with the water tight doors closed, it might be possible to get her pumps running and get her back on an even keel so that she is towable.

The mv ' Explorer ' was in the dry-docks at Singapore, when named ' Society Explorer ' at the same time as the ss ' Oriana ' was there having a re-fit in the early 1980's.

You could see the remains of the name ' Lindblad Explorer ' on her bows.

Coastguard (strangely though I think the Australian ?) report that she is about to sink and all crew have been removed.