Plancius Polar Exploration Ship stuck at South Georgia
www.AntarcticGuide.com
April 13th 2012
SOME 70 tourists are stranded on board a Dutch polar exploration ship at South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic after the ship experienced a partial engine failure, its owner said today.
The Plancius was lying under anchor off a pier in a bay outside South Georgia’s small port of Grytviken – a former whaling station and now a popular stop-off spot for cruise ships visiting Antarctica, Mark van der Hulst said.
“The ship is anchored off a pier in South Georgia after suffering partial loss of her engine. She is safe and sound and there is no danger for passengers,” he said.
“She is waiting for another passenger ship to pick them up and bring them to Montevideo, from where they will be flown home.”
The 291-foot (89-meter) Plancius was then expected to make her way under her own steam to Montevideo for an inspection, Van der Hulst said.
Dutch tour operator Inezia, which organizes the Atlantic Odyssey tours mainly as a bird-watching expedition, said the ship experienced engine trouble Tuesday afternoon.
“It had visited Antarctica and was on its way through the Atlantic to the Cape Verdean islands,” Inezia’s owner Pieter van der Luit said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/some-70-tourists-stranded-on-antarctic-explorer/story-fn3dxity-1226324417861
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