RP seamen in Antarctica sea mishap safe - DFA

All 45 Filipino crew members of the sinking Canadian cruise ship off the Argentinian coast in the Antarctic Ocean have been safely evacuated to Chile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Saturday. The Filipino seamen – six females and nine males – were rescued by Norwegian ship Nordnorge and brought to a Chilean airbase on King George Island, according to DFA spokesman Claro Cristobal. The Canadian cruise ship M/S Explorer hit a submerged ice and cracked its hill near South Shetland Island in the Antarctic Ocean at dawn on Friday. “The Philippine embassies in London and Oslo (Norway) reported that 45 Filipinos ( 6 females and 39 males) all crew members of Canadian cruise ship M/S explorer have been evacuated to safety after the vessel hit a submerged ice and cracked its hull near South Shetland Island in Antarctic Ocean Friday dawn. Saved with them were the rest of the 54-man crew, nine expedition staff and all 91 passengers," Cristobal said in a text message. Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo instructed Philippine Ambassador to Chile Consuelo Puyat-Reyes to “provide all assistance to the Filseamen," Cristobal said. Romulo also thanked the owners of Nordnorge through the Norwegian government, and the government of Chile for their efforts in rescuing the Canadian ship’s passengers and crew, including the Filipinos. No injuries reported The British coast guard reported late Friday that more than 150 passengers and crew took to lifeboats in Antarctic waters after their cruise ship hit an object and began taking on water through a hole in the hull. There were no injuries were reported. The Associated Press reported that the passengers of the Explorer, a Liberian-flagged vessel, included at least 22 British citizens, and undetermined numbers of Americans and Canadians. The evacuees boarded another cruise ship, the Endeavor, near the South Shetland Islands, and were expected to be transferred later to a larger ship, said Henry Purbrick, watch officer at the coast guard center in Falmouth, England. "Latest reports are that all persons are safe and accounted for," said coast guard spokesman Fred Caygill late Friday. The coast guard said it was told at 12:24 a.m. EST of the incident involving the 2,646-ton Explorer near the South Shetland Islands and Graham Land, an Antarctic peninsula. "We believed it has been hulled, it has a hole the size of a fist and some cracking in the hull of the ship, it's taking water and it's listing about 21 degrees," Caygill told AP Radio. It was unclear whether the vessel would sink, he said. "There has been some information coming back that it may have hit an iceberg but it has not been confirmed," Caygill said. There was a lot of ice in the area, but the vessel was built to withstand ice, said Mark Clark, another coast guard spokesman. Rescue centers in Norfolk, Va., and Ushuaia, Argentina, were taking charge of coordinating the rescue, the coast guard said. An Argentine rescue and command center received a first distress call at 11:30 p.m. EST Thursday from the Explorer amid reports it was taking on water through the hull despite efforts to use onboard pumps, said Capt. Juan Pablo Panichini, an Argentine navy spokesman. A navy statement said the captain ordered passengers to abandon ship about 90 minutes after the first call and that they and the crew took to eight semi-rigid lifeboats and four life rafts, with the captain leaving the ship later. The statement said Explorer was some 475 nautical miles southeast of Ushuaia, the southernmost Argentine city and a jumping-off point for cruise ships and supply vessels for Antarctica. Seas were calm and winds light at the time, what Panichini called "optimal conditions for carrying out the evacuation," In Oslo, Norway's Hurtigrute said passengers and most of the crew of the Explorer had safely been taken about its cruise ship, Nordnorge. The line's spokesman Stein Lillebo said they were still compiling a list of names but that just under 150 people in all were aboard. He said about three ship arrived in the area at the same time, but that Nordnorge was selected to take on the passengers because of its capacity. "We have just taken on board all the passengers from the ship, and a large portion of the crew. The only ones not board are the one who drove the rubber boats that were used during the action," he said. "The reports I have are that the mood is very good, and that those who came on board are getting the help they need. If they are cold, they get heat. If they are hungry, they get food. And if they need a doctor, or nurse, we also provide that." He said he did not know about the condition of all the passengers, but said the passengers had been out in rubber boats in subfreezing temperatures. The Nordnorge, built in 1997, is 403 feet long and has a capacity of 691 passengers in 214 cabins. - GMANews.TV, with AP report