(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-24 08:40

Icy Continent

The stricken vessel had set sail from the southern Argentine port of Ushuaia last week and was heading south toward the barren, icy continent, officials said.

The Explorer usually makes two-week cruises around the Antarctic, costing some 4,000 pounds ($8,000) per cabin.

Smaller than most cruise ships, it is able to enter narrower bays off the continent and scientists are on board to brief passengers on the region's geology and climate change.

King George Island lies about 700 miles south of Cape Horn, the tip of South America, and is the largest of the South Shetland islands.

Cruise trip travel has grown in Antarctica in recent years and Pedro Tuhay, of the Argentine coast guard, told local radio that 52 cruises were expected at the southern port of Ushuaia during this year's peak season from October to April.

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