The Modern Day Titanic

Just like the Titanic, a Canadian cruise ship hit submerged (hidden) ice in the frozen waters near Antarctica and started to sink on Friday, November 23rd. However, this story has a much happier ending.

The Explorer, which was in the middle of an ecological tour (allows passengers to look and learn about local wildlife), off King George Island, between the Antarctica and the Southern tip of South America, had 154 passengers on board.

The captain sent out a distress call at about 1.45 am, asking any ships nearby for help, as they seemed to have struck something and the ship was being flooded with water. By 3 am all the ship's passengers and most of the crew, were in lifeboats and zodiacs.

The passengers had to endure near-freezing temperatures in the lifeboats for about four hours, before being rescued by a Norwegian Cruise ship, which was in the area and heard the distress call. While the passengers were wet and cold, none of them suffered from hypothermia and they were all glad to be rescued.

Once on board, they were taken to King George Island, from where they will be flown to South America aboard a chartered plane. The cruise ship was carrying 91 passengers, nine expedition staff members and a crew of 54.

While the passengers and crew escaped unhurt, the ships own fate was doomed as it slowly sank and disappeared into the frozen waters near the Antarctica.