A passenger died and four others were injured after an unexpected large wave hit a cruise ship en route to a popular departure point for Antarctic expeditions, Viking Cruises said.
The ship, the Viking Polaris, was hit by a “rogue wave” on Tuesday at 20: 30 pm local time while traveling to Ushuaia, Argentina, which is located at the southern tip of South America, Viking Cruises said in a statement.
Viking Cruises did not say how the passenger died or provide her name, but it was reported in some media that a glass broke and fell on the woman’s body.
The four injured passengers were treated by medical personnel on board and had non-life-threatening injuries, Viking Cruises said.
A State Department official said a US citizen died and was offering consular assistance to the person’s family.
Rogue waves are unpredictable, typically twice the size of surrounding waves, and often come from a different direction than the surrounding wind and waves, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists are still trying to figure out how and when these unusual waves form.
Ann Mah of Topeka, Kansas, told news station WIBW that she and her husband were on the boat when it was hit by the wave and that it was “like their whole house was shaking really hard.”
“ I mean, it was just a thud,” said Mah.
The Viking Polaris launched this year and was designed to travel to remote destinations like the Antarctic Peninsula. The ship is 665 feet long and can carry 665 passengers and 93 crew members.
The ship suffered “limited damage” from the wave and arrived in Ushuaia a day after the hit, Viking Cruises said.
Tourism to Antarctica has increased steadily over the past 20 years, with 74,665 people traveling there in the season
-20, according to the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators. Approximately 6,665 people traveled there in the season 2019-378, according to the association.
It is the beginning of the Antarctic tourism season, which coincides with its summer, beginning at the end of October or early November and usually lasts until March.
The death on the Viking Cruises ship follows the deaths of two other cruise passengers in Antarctica last month. Two Quark Expeditions passengers died after one of the ship’s Zodiac dinghies capsized near shore, Seatrade Cruise News reported.
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