Antarctica: Deja Vu- Cruise ship hits iceberg again

Adrift cruise ship hits iceberg

By AP

 

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OSLO, NORWAY -- Officials say a Norwegian cruise ship with 300 people on board rammed an iceberg in the Antarctic after its motor failed.

No injuries were reported.

Ragnar Norum, a spokesman for the Hurtigruten cruise line company, says the ship had engine problems yesterday and a brief power outage near Browns Bluff in the Antarctic.

The engine started again and the liner continued on its route.

Norum says the ship was headed for King George Island where it will be inspected for damage.

Witnesses say the impact crushed one lifeboat and bent a railing.

Robert O'Connor, a 26-year-old American from South Bend, Indiana, who was on board the ship with his family, said the ship suddenly lost power and began to drift straight toward a "towering wall of ice."

"It bent the railing and a lifeboat was completely crushed," he said.

It was unclear whether the vessel would continue the tour.

Last month, the MS Explorer -- an adventure travel ship on a 19-day cruise off Antarctica -- hit an iceberg, forcing its 154 passengers and crew into lifeboats in the middle of the night. They waited more than three hours in icy waters until they were rescued by another cruise ship.