A Russian cruise ship sold in the UK by Exodus is finally starting to move after being trapped in Antarctic ice since the end of last week.
The Kapitan Khlebnikov, which has 184 passengers and crew on board, got trapped in heavy pack ice in a bay near Snow Island off the north-eastern end of the Antarctica Peninsula on November 13.
Of the 101 passengers on board, about 50 are from the UK, including a BBC film crew who were on the trip to film a documentary called Frozen Planet.
The passengers, who paid about £10,000 each for the trip, were on a special cruise to see emperor penguins on Snow Hill Island when the ship “got stuck between an island and an ice massif”, according to a spokesman for the Far Eastern Shipping Company, which owns the ship.
Kapitan Khlebnikov, which claimed to be the only ship in the world able to navigate to the Snow Hill bird colony, is sold exclusively in the UK by Exodus, which is part of TUI.
Exodus became the largest operator of small-ship expedition cruises to Antarctica and Spitsbergen this year when it was appointed general sales agent for Quark Expeditions, which operates the ship.
Exodus said weather conditions improved enough for passengers to visit the penguin rookery by helicopter and for the ship to now move.
It is expected to reach open waters within the next 12-20 hours and will then return to Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina.
Speaking from the ship, Exodus guide Paul Goldstein said: “Yesterday all our passengers reached the incredible emperor penguin rookery at Snow Hill Island, the principal reason for their voyage.
“The passengers are safe, a little frustrated that ice and weather conditions have delayed their return, but philosophical about their late arrival into Ushuaia.”
The cruise was due to end on November 15. It is now expected to arrive there at the end of this week.
Exodus is working with agents and transportation companies to co-ordinate alternative flight and travel plans for its passengers.