Rescue on the way for passengers stranded aboard expedition ship

A rescue ship is expected to reach the island of South Georgia on Wednesday to collect passengers on board a Polar expedition vessel stranded by engine problems.
The 114-passenger Plancius, on a 38-day voyage which should have taken it from the Argentinian port of Ushuaia to the Antarctic and then on to the Cape Verde islands, lost power on April 9.
Mechanical failure has left it capable of a maximum of 4.5 knots in calm seas instead of its normal operating speed of 10-12 knots. The ship took shelter at anchor off Grytviken, South Georgia, 850 miles south-east of the Falklands.
The 73 passengers, six expedition staff, a doctor and 35 members of crew will be taken onto another ship, the Ushuaia, which set out from Mar del Plata, Argentina, on Friday and will carry them to Montevideo, Uruguay. They are expected to arrive on April 24 to be flown home, most of them to America or the Netherlands.
Dutch operators Oceanwide Expeditions say the mood on board is good “given the circumstances,” adding that passengers have been free to go ashore to take part in a makeshift – and somewhat limited – excursion programme.
Once the passengers have been disembarked, a tug will take Plancius for repair. The ship was originally built as an oceanographic research vessel for the Royal Dutch Navy and converted for expedition use in 2009.