Eleven French tourists and four crew members were rescued by helicopter on Monday evening after their ship ran aground on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic, local authorities announced on Tuesday. The incident caused no injuries, the governor’s office said in a statement.
For reasons still undetermined, the MS Isbjørn 2 tourist ship ran aground on Monday evening in a bay of the Isfjord fjord in this territory twice the size of Belgium, a thousand miles from the North Pole.
An investigation to determine the causes of the accident
Its 15 occupants were rescued by helicopter and transported to Longyearbyen, the capital of the archipelago also known as Spitsbergen. The MS Isbjørn 2 was taken under tow by another vessel to be brought back to Longyearbyen.
“None of those on board were physically injured,” authorities said. An investigation has been launched to determine the causes of the accident. According to the authorities, no significant hydrocarbon leak has been detected in this fragile ecosystem where 65% of the spaces are protected.
Tourism is, along with scientific research, one of the pillars of Svalbard’s economy, having taken over from coal mining, the main activity for a long time. Before the Covid, up to 140,000 people visited the archipelago each year, where less than 3,000 people live.