The 60 meter long fishing vessel Antarctic Chieftain became disabled in the South Ocean off Antarctica between Rossøya and Victoria Land. The fishing vessel with its 27 crew on board had become stuck in the ice with 3 of the vessel 4 propellers crushed by the ice. The crew requested assistance with the US Coastguard icebreaker Polar Star responding. The Polar Star broke the ice and reached the Antarctic Chieftain a few days later. The Polar Star will tow the disabled fishing vessel to the open ocean where the fishing vessel Janas will take the tow and proceed to the nearest harbour. No reports of injuries or pollution released.
The Costa Concordia grounding is not an isolated event for the cruise ship industry. Here are just small list of major accidents reported in the news since 2007:
September 15, 2011 – The MS Nordlys had an explosion in the engine room the caused a large fire killing two crew and evacuation of the vessel at Hurtigruten, Norway.
April 15, 2011 – The MV Ocean Star Pacific had an engine room fire forcing 748 passengers and crew to be evacuated off the ship to Huatulco, Mexico.
January 31, 2011 – The Polar Star ran aground off Antarctica damaging the vessel’s outer hull with passengers evacuated to another vessel.
December 7, 2010 – The Clelia II was struck by a large wave off the remote South Shetland Islands suffering engine damage.
December 3, 2010 – The RMS Queen Mary 2 suffered an explosion causing a short term power outage.
November 8, 2010 – The MV Carnival Splendor had an engine room fire resulting in a complete power loss. The vessel towed back to San Diego with the US Navy providing food for passengers.
October 18, 2010 – The Costa Classica collided with a cargo vessel in the Yangtze River inflicting a 20 meter long gash between passenger decks.
Feb 26, 2010 – The Costa Europa allided into a quay at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt tearing a two meter hole drowning three crew and injuring four passengers.
June 18, 2009 – The MV Royal Princess had a fire in the engine room off Port Said, Egypt causing extensive damage.
February 26, 2009 – The Costa Romantica had a fire in the generator room causing a power outage. Passengers were evacuated after crew was unable to repair the generators.
June 21, 2008 – The MV Princess of the Stars capsized and sank off San Fernando, Philippines when struck by a typhoon. The vessel with 860 passengers and crew on board had only 32 survivors.
November 23, 2007 – The cruise ship Explorer struck a submerged object off Antarctica and sank. No lives were lost, but over 150 individuals were forced into open lifeboats.
April 5, 2007 – The MV Sea Diamond struck a reef of the Greek island of Santorini with 1195 passengers on board. Vessel filled with water and later sank. Two passengers lost.
For more reading on the cruise ship incidents, we recommend visiting www.cruisejunkie.com
