First Survivors Land in Chile

Airlift begins to bring them from island to Chilean mainland
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 24, 2007 3:52 PM CST
First Survivors Land in Chile
Passengers of the Canadian ship MS Explorer rest inside a Chilean Air Force C-130 aircraft during their flight to Punta Arenas, Chile, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007. Tourists from 14 nations rescued off Antarctica when the MS Explorer struck an iceberg and sank waited out bad weather Saturday at a remote...   (Associated Press)

An air force plane transported about half of the survivors from yesterday's Antarctic shipwreck to Chile today, BBC reports. The others—79 of the Explorer's 156 passengers—may spend a second night on a remote island due to bad weather. A Chilean air force spokesman said the survivors did "very well" on their first overnight. "Some of them have been in touch with their families via the Internet," he said.

"It's certainly nice to be on the way home now," one US survivor said before boarding the plane to leave King George island. "I'm just really glad to be around still." Tourists from the sunken Explorer include 13 Americans, 10 Canadians, and 23 Britons—all described as being in "good spirits" by the tour company. (More cruise ships stories.)

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