Couple survive cruise ship disaster

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Gillian and Brian Lee, from Telford, Shropshire, were among 24 Britons and four Irish holidaymakers who escaped on lifeboats as the M/S Explorer began taking on water.

They were picked up by another ship and taken to a remote island where they spent the night in military barracks before being flown to Chile.

Mrs Lee told the Mail on Sunday: "We are lucky to be alive. It was quite frightening at the time as the ship was taking on water and we knew we were hundreds of miles from anyone else.

"It was very scary because the ship was listing over towards one side and things were sliding across the deck. The crew had been busy going back and forth but you could tell something was seriously wrong by the look of concentration on their faces."

She added that the ship drifted in the sea for about four or five hours, although the captain had told passengers a rescue ship was on its way.

The pair are now resting in a hotel in Punta Arenas, Chile, as they plan their journey home. They left King George island in the South Shetlands on the edge of the icy continent on a flight carrying 75 passengers.

The remaining 11, with 66 members of the ship's crew, are due to arrive in South America, a spokesman for the ship's owners said.

The tourists were on a 19-day trip costing around £4,000 when the disaster struck. The passengers came from more than a dozen nations, including Holland, the US, Canada and Australia.

Fourteen of the Britons were part of a tour run by Hampshire-based adventure holiday company Explore, named "Spirit of Shackleton" after the polar explorer.