Aground in Antarctia - Pollution Fear

9:39 PM Fri 5 Dec 2008 GMT

'Ciudad de Ushuaiai aground' .

Only the brave and bold visit Antarctica in a sailing boat, but how hazardous it is was demonstrated again when the cruise ship Ciudad de Ushuaiai had to evacuate all 89 passengers of various nationalities from the Argentine registered ship which had run aground, an official in charge of the rescue operation said on Friday.

They were taken off the cruise liner, which became stuck Thursday in Wilhelmina Bay, part of the Antarctic peninsula that reaches towards the southern tip of South America, Commander Alan Nettle said.

Argentine authorities on Thursday said the passengers and 33 crew members were all unhurt and the vessel was in no danger of sinking.

Citizens from Australia, Belgium, Britain, China, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the United States were among the passengers on the ship.

Nettle, speaking to the Cooperative radio station in Chile's capital Santiago, said a Chilean navy transport, Aquiles, 'has embarked all of the passengers from the ship Ushuaia.'

They were being taken to Chile's Eduardo Frei base in Antarctica's Fildes Peninsula to the north, from where they would be transported to a South American destination yet to be decided.

Nettle said the cruise ship's crew remained on board their vessel 'to carry out salvage actions the owner will have to follow.'

A Chilean helicopter was also dispatched to fly over the area of the accident to survey a fuel slick left by Cuidad de Ushuaia, which had punctured a tank in the accident, the navy said in a statement.

Another Chilean ship, a tug boat, was also being sent to help contain the pollution.

A spokeswoman for the Chilean navy told AFP the evacuation was carried out between 0630 and 1000 GMT on Friday.

The grounded cruise ship was used for tourist trips around Antarctica -- an increasingly popular activity in the southern hemisphere's warmer months for wealthy tourists from around the world.

The Panamanian-flagged ship regularly left from Ushuaia, the southernmost Argentine city.

According to the Argentine and Chilean media, Ciudad de Ushuaia hit a rock on Thursday, putting a hole in a fuel tank. The slick was being contained by a series of floating barriers.

The liner reportedly left on its 11-day cruise on November 28.

Passengers typically pay thousands of dollars for the experience of visiting the world's only uninhabited continent.

Other accidents have happened in the past to cruises in the region.

In December 2007, a Norwegian cruise liner, Fram, floated adrift for two hours before rescue in the same region with 256 passengers and 70 crew on board after its engines failed.

In November 2007, a Canadian-owned ship, Explorer, sank after hitting an iceberg. Its 154 occupants abandoned ship in lifeboats and were rescued without injury, though a massive fuel slick sullied the pristine protected nature zone.

by AFP/Sail-World Cruising

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