On August 24, a tour company vessel ran aground in the Arctic and the passengers onboard the vessel have been transferred to its sister ship.
What happened?
The 117-metre long Squamish tour company vessel ‘Akademik Ioffe’ ran aground in the western Gulf of Boothia, Canadian Arctic. The reason for the vessel running aground has not been revealed. The vessel was reported to be carrying 96 passengers and 65 crew members during the grounding incident.
According to the company, all passengers were reported to be safe and no environmental damage was detected.
Passengers transferred
The passengers onboard the grounded vessel have been transferred to a sister ship ‘Akademik Sergey Vavilov’ on the first leg of their trip home.
According to a news release from One Ocean, the passengers will disembark at Kugaaruk, Nunavut on Sunday and air charter arrangements have been made for all passengers to be transferred back to Edmonton where they will then head to their respective homes.
Statement released
Catherine Lawton, general manager of One Ocean, which is headquartered on Second Avenue in downtown Squamish said, “We regret the inconvenience to our passengers. By Saturday morning, the Akademik Ioffe had been floated and a full vessel systems check had been performed successfully. We would like to extend sincere thanks to all of our guests for their patience and understanding. We will be in touch with each of them in the days ahead. We also wish to thank our staff team and the Captain and crew of the loffe for their fast and professional response to the grounding. Finally, we want to express our gratitude to the many individuals serving in the Coast Guard and other government agencies and departments who have been involved. We appreciate their dedicated professionalism”.
No environmental damage
She further added, “We are also relieved that there has been no environmental impact related to the incident. We are a mission-oriented company that cares very much about our country and being a steward of our natural environment. We are proud to be enabling world-class scientific research and educational programming in cooperation with partners such as the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and on this specific voyage the Northwest Passage Project. From research into climate trends, ice patterns, and the impact of microplastics on our oceans, we look forward to carrying on this important work. In the days and weeks ahead, we will continue to assist the ship’s owners and government agencies with their review of the incident”.
Did you subscribe for our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Squamish Chief
