The ship, operated by French company Ponant, was just north of the Falklands en route to South Georgia, a British territory in the South Atlantic, when the incident began. The french ship called Le Boreal was evacuated due to an engine room fire.
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All power was lost and the ship was drifting – with a northwesterly gale creating a real danger of her grounding on nearby Cape Dolphin. Each rescued person was issued with toiletries and hygiene items provided by the Falkland Islands Government.
A distress signal was sent out and the master ordered the all 347 passengers and crew to abandon ship. Now a new video has been released of the rescue operation.
All evacuees were brought to the British forces base at Mount Pleasant where they were given medical care, clothes and food.
HMS Clyde and two tugs, meanwhile, collected people who had been evacuated into the sea on lifeboats, whilst a Voyager aircraft was used to refuel the Hercules.
L’Austral is sailing for Stanley, a port in the Falklands, and will join the 90 passengers and crew who were airlifted and transferred to land by search and rescue helicopters.
The RAF and Royal Navy have come to the rescue of cruise passengers trapped aboard a blazing ship off the Falkland Islands. This was a huge team effort involving close liaison with the Falkland Islands Government and I am enormously impressed with the reaction by all the British forces involved, it was an exemplary performance all round.
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“The swift action taken by Royal Navy and Royal Air Force crews, working with civilian counterparts, saved many lives and prevented this developing into a human tragedy”, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.
