The luxury cruise ship Le Boreal was loaded onto the deck of the COSCO Heavy Transport ship HLV Kang Sheng Kou in Punta Arenas, Chile this week about two months after the ship was hit by a major fire in the Southern Atlantic Ocean.
As gCaptain reported a few months back, all 347 passengers and crew were evacuated safely after the fire broke out in the engine room of the ship in November 18th while underway near the Falkland Islands. Although the order to abandon ship was initially passed off as precautionary by ship owner Ponant, British forces, who assisted in the rescue, later described the incident as a “complex” search and rescue operation carried out in difficult conditions. At one point, the drifting cruise ship was even in danger of grounding, coming as close as 3 miles to land.
The ship is believed to be headed to a Fincantieri shipyard in Italy for repairs.
gCaptain’s previous story on the search and rescue is HERE.