Passengers evacuated from ultra luxury ship

Le Boreal, sailing from Grave Cave to South Georgia had to evacuate all 347 passengers and crew after the alarm was raised yesterday morning at 2am.

Ponant reported that the incident – a fire which broke out in the engine room – was under control and passengers were evacuated as a precaution.  They also reported that there were no injuries to the passengers or crew.

The remainder of the voyage has been cancelled and Ponant are making arrangements to repatriate passengers as quickly as possible once they arrive in the capital of the Falklands, Port Stanley.

It’s been reported that the ship suffered full loss of power after the ‘major engine room fire’ leaving the ship drifting.  That paired with a gale at the time meant the ship risked grounding.  Two Royal Air Force helicopters were used to winch passengers from the ship whilst the remainder were instructed to use life rafts.  They were then moved to sister ship L’Austral who was also in the area.

The ship is now being recovered by two tug boats and taken back to the Falkland Islands.

Le Boreal was off the coast of the Falklands when the evacuation began

It must have  been an extremely unnerving and scary time for all involved but this shows why muster drills are so important, not only for passengers but for crew too.  It seems the rescue operation went extremely well and everybody remained calm, following instructions resulting in everyone being rescued successfully.

You can see a video of the rescue operation here.