Irish passengers leave Antarctic

The four Irish passengers on a cruise ship which hit an iceberg have now been flown out of the Antarctic region, the ship's owners…

The four Irish passengers on a cruise ship which hit an iceberg have now been flown out of the Antarctic region, the ship's owners said.

The four Irish holidaymakers were among the ship's 86 passengers who have all now been flown from remote King George island in the South Shetlands to Chile.

The first group of 75 passengers and two staff from the M/S Explorerleft the island on Saturday and the remaining 11 plus 66 crew were airlifted off on Sunday.

The  M/S Explorerhit a submerged iceberg on Friday morning. As the ship began to list dangerously, passengers were told to put on warm clothes and lifejackets and abandon ship. They waited in lifeboats in the freezing cold for the NordNorge, a passing liner, to answer their emergency call.

READ MORE

They were brought to a nearby island, populated only by a handful of soldiers and climate change research scientists, where they spent the night.

Meanwhile, the 30-year-old M/S Explorersank to the ocean floor.

Bad weather hampered efforts to take them off the island on Saturday but 77 people were eventually airlifted in Chilean Army Hercules transporter planes on Saturday and the remainder were flown to Chile late last night.

Some of the passengers have flown to the capital Santiago from where they will fly home.

Others remain in Punta Arenas, Chile's most southern city on the tip of South America.