On 18th November the 10,944gt Le Boréal of French company Ponant became disabled while en route to South Georgia from Ushuaia, Argentina on a 15 day cruise in the South Atlantic Ocean and Antarctica. The Le Boréal had suffered an engine room fire while off the Falkland Islands. The crew was able to extinguish the blaze, but the cruise ship sustained significant damage resulting with a total loss of all power. Adrift, the Le Boréal was being driven towards Cape Dolphin, East Falkland by a strong north-westerly gale. With no possibility of restoring power and a risk of going aground, the Le Boréal sent out a distress call and ordered everyone on board to abandon ship.

Authorities on the Falklands Islands received the call and British Forces dispatched helicopters and vessels to the scene. When rescuers arrived on scene, they found multiple life rafts from the Le Boréal with over 200 persons while a small number still on the deck of the cruise ship. Rescue helicopters lifted 79 off the deck while the HMS Clyde rescued over 200 people from the life rafts.

There were no injuries to passengers or crew from the fire, which was of a technical nature, the line says. Ponant says Le Boréal’s passengers were transferred to her sister ship L’Austral, which also was in the region, and were taken to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands to be repatriated. The remainder of the Le Boreal sailing was cancelled.