Canadian Cruise Ship Evacuated After Hitting Submerged Ice Off Antarctica

AP :

A Canadian cruise ship struck submerged ice off Antarctica and began sinking, but all 154 passengers and crew, Americans and Britons among them, took to lifeboats and were plucked to safety by a passing cruise ship.

The stricken MS Explorer finally disappeared from view Friday evening, about 20 hours after the predawn accident near Antarctica's South Shetland Islands, the Chilean navy said.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[grimm]

Wait a minute - there are still icebergs?

THE SURGE IS WORKING!

[Tom95134]

Some please tell me how a hole the size of a fist causes a ship to list as badly as the pic shows and places the ship in damger of sinking.

Somebody decided to sell that ship to the insurance company because it was too costly to maintain.

[rivrgrrl]

"G.A.P Adventures is a tour company that provides eco-friendly excursions with an environmental focus. The Explorer was in the midst of a 19-day circuit of Antarctica and the Falkland Islands that allowed passengers to observe penguins, whales, and other forms of local wildlife."

"environmental focus"? What a joke. Cruise ships are one of the worst polluters of our oceans, dumping their garbage and sewage overboard at will.

And while the environmental impact will hopefully be minimal, this ship sitting on the ocean floor leaking out diesel fuel and all the other pollutants will have some impact.

There is no longer anyplace on Earth that is safe from the ravages of mankind.

[ceasenake]

So much for global warming - there's more ice out there than the Canadians thought.

[wmbear]

"CAPTAIN! DO YOU KNOW THERE'S AN ICEBERG OFF THE PORT BOW!?"...

"No, but if you'll hum a few bars, I'll fake it...."

[GrouchoMarxist]

Did they get Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet off in time?

[PretzelsOne]

How symbolic! The bottom of the ship is red, and it's going down. They ought to rename it the Larry Craig.

[MGhamma]

I came here to see how long it took for the septics to turn this into a GW "debate". Obviously not long. Sheesh, what a bunch of side show freaks ya'll are. ROFLMAO!!

[neoconcriminals]

Was it the S.S. Bush?

[realitytrumpsbull]

Do they just not know how to fix boats, or
is it an insurance thing?

[shockmagog]

'- Toronto-based G.A.P. Adventures -- the name stands for Great Adventure People -- was founded in 1990 and describes itself as the world's largest adventure tour operator, with more than 500 offices around the world.'

'- The company offers small group outdoor adventures, including cruises and safaris, in all seven continents, sending 60,000 people each year on vacations.­'

'- G.A.P. bought its MS Explorer cruise ship in June 2004. The ship was built in 1969 and can carry 108 passengers­.'

'- The company says the MS Explorer was the first passenger ship to journey through the Northwest Passage, the famed Arctic waterway linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.'

'- The company runs 11 trips to Antarctica. Its Web site promises: "A continent of superlatives. It is the coldest, windiest, driest, iciest and highest of all the major landmasses in the world."'
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN23156087

[Ericonomist]

This story is just a coverup for a Russian attack on a cruise ship. There's no way that the ship hit ice, because global warming has melted all of it.

[Stevelagain]

Obviously George Bush Caused Global warming and thus melted that Ice that floated away and sunk the boat. Gee, I'm glad we solved that one!

[Rubiconski]

TOO BAD ITS NOT THE JAPANESE WHALING FLEET!!

BOYCOTT JAPANESE PRODUCTS!!

STUPID JAPAN KILLING WHALES!! THEY SUCK!...

Now I am really depressed.

Those ships should be attacked and disabled.

Write the Prime Minister of Japan here...

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment.html

and get more info here

http://www.savejapandolphins.org/takeActionContacts.htm....

OR sink their freakin fleet, or BOTH!!

Go get 'em Sea Shepherd!!

http://www.seashepherd.org/