Spitsbergen Incident on the Aleksey Maryshev involving 48 British passengers.
Discover the World Statement
24 August 2007 Time: 09.17
All of our passengers from the Aleksey Maryshev have now safely returned home to the UK. We are continuing to keep in regular contact with all of the passengers who were on were on board this trip.
We are still awaiting a detailed investigation report from the ship operators and the Svalbard authorities and we are continuing our own investigation.
We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Dr Gordon McNeish who was our onboard doctor and who did an amazing job to assist all of the passengers and treat their injuries even though he himself was injured. We’d also like to thank all of our passengers for their understanding towards us during what was an incredibly difficult time for all. Clive Stacey has described them as “an extraordinary group of people”.
Here follows a statement from Clive Stacey:
“On arrival onboard, at 07.00 on Friday morning I was met by Cathy Harlow, our group escort. Cathy had a broken arm and was still in a state of shock but coping wonderfully well. She gave me a brief report and then as the passengers awoke and came down for breakfast I started to chat with them. Over breakfast Cathy and I gave them a briefing and I offered to answer any questions, but there were very few. For the rest of the day I spent time on a one to one basis with the passengers, took calls from the media, visited the two clients who were injured in Longyearbeyn Hospital, met the press who arrived on the island and discussed the situation with the management of Oceanwide Expeditions. At 01.30 I left the ship and walked to the airport in order to make sure all of our passengers were allocated appropriate seats. The passengers then arrived just after 03.00 and the check in process went reasonably well, as did the transit in Oslo and Heathrow. I have to say that the way our passengers dealt with the situation both at the time and afterwards was inspirational. It was a privilege to have been with them at this very difficult time.” Clive Stacey, Managing Director of Discover the World. |
We remain committed to assisting our passengers over the coming months and are continuing our liaison with them on a regular basis to help them through the follow up process.
© Discover the World Ltd. 2007
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