Passengers injured as ice collapses onto cruise ship
Specialist cruise vessel hit by falling ice shelf, all aboard are Britons
 

British passengers on board a small cruise ship undertaking an adventure trip to the Arctic have been injured after an iceshelf they were close to shed a quantity of ice onto the vessel.

The incident happened 300 miles north of Norway near the Svalbard islands. The vessel is the ALEKSEY MARYSHEV, owned by Russia's Hydrographic Department and chartered to Oceanwide Expeditions.

(Note: some reports give the name as ALEXEY MARYSHEV, but this spelling is incorrect)

The management of Discover the World, the tour operating company who organised the trip said it was  aware that an incident had occurred and every senior manager in the company is currently involved in the situation.


The company said they were still awaiting a detailed report from the ship operators, Oceanwide Expeditions which will follow after the ship's captain and expedition team have been interviewed by the Governor of Svalbard who is also the Chief of Police.

The company said the vessel was near to an iceshelf and a part of the glacier calved off and some of the smaller pieces of ice and water were washed onto the ship's deck and seven passengers were injured.

None of them have life threatening injuries, said the company and two were more seriously injured than the others, but they are in a stable position and have been moved to Tromso, Norway.

A further passenger has also been moved to Tromso overnight together with one of the crew members.

The statement continued:

"The other 4 injured passengers suffered less serious injuries and are still in Longyearbyen Hospital in Spitsbergen. We have done all possible to contact the next of kin of those passengers who were injured, and we will continue to keep in close contact with them. We have been made aware this morning that further passengers have been taken to Longyearbyen Hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

"We have our own experienced guide on board the ship along with the ship's highly experienced crew and expedition team. A member of our management team will be travelling to Tromso on the first available flight today to be with our passengers there and our Managing Director Clive Stacey will be travelling today to Longyearbyen to be with the remainder of our passengers. The ship has now docked in Longyearbyen and will remain there.

"Our absolute company priority is to concentrate on Discover the World's clients and their families and we are doing everything possible to assist them.

"We are also in regular contact with the British Embassy in Oslo who are assisting with the situation.

Relatives in the UK who would like to speak to a company representative may call +44 (0) 1737 214204 or 07793 267510.