VARIOUS: Survivors from the ship that sank in Antarctica speak of waiting to be rescued in freezing waters

The survivors of the cruise ship which sank off Antartica have been speaking of their ordeal. They were rescued by the Chilean military on Saturday (November 24). More than 150 passengers and crew from the Explorer were taken to Chile's Eduardo Frei base in the Antarctic after being evacuated by lifeboats and drifting for six hours. Inside the base, the passengers were fed, clothed and checked by a doctor. Thirty-eight-year-old Eli Charne from California said the water flooded into their cabin in a matter of minutes. Charne was part of the first group of survivors to be airlifted from Chile's Eduardo Frei air base in Antarctica to Punta Arenas in southern Chile. "The worst moment was being in the lifeboat so we were there for four or five hours and it was very cold and we were very exposed so that was very difficult," said Charne, wearing borrowed clothing and carrying a life jacket from the ship. The remaining passengers are expected to spend another night at the Chilean Air Force base before being flown to Punta Arenas on Sunday. The Explorer, owned by Canadian travel company G.A.P. Adventures, took on water after hitting ice in the early hours of Friday. Tourists on board came from many different countries including Americans, Europeans, Canadians, Japanese and Argentinians. The Explorer was more than half way through a 19-day trip when it sank close to King George Island, the largest of the South Shetland islands, about 700 miles (1,127 km) south of Cape Horn, the tip of South America.

ITN Source | November 25, 2007

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