Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@placeslesstravelled
Topics: News
Chelsea Connor
Petrifying footage of almost 100ft waves crashing against cruise liner - with passengers fleeing as deck fills with sea water.
The Atlas World Voyager was making its designated journey to South Argentina, but got caught up in a violent storm.
The popular cruise was making its way through Antarctica and hit the ‘Drake passage’ - the direct point of the ocean at which the Atlantic and Pacific converge between the southernmost tip of South America and Antarctic - when disaster struck. Take a look:
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The anxiety-inducing clip, which was filmed on December 2, 2023 and later uploaded to TikTok, shows winds of 115mph smashing into the water and creating 30ft waves which lick up towards the side of the boat.
Rich Bush, a tourist who was on board, said on Facebook: 'We had high winds with one gust hitting 115 mph.
"Also 10 meter waves and one wave that washed over the bridge level. The captain estimated it was 30 meters.
"It was the roughest crossing many of the crew and staff had ever had... Made it back to Ushuaia safely under the guidance of our expert captain."
The footage shows the cruise furniture, chairs, tables and sun loungers which begin floating around the top deck with the volume of water increasing - while smashing everything in its path.
Luckily the Atlas World Voyager was built to withstand the most ferocious of the storm - weighing in at a whopping 10,000 tons and measuring 429ft in length - so the ship was able to continue the rest of the journey safely.
The same couldn't be said for the Spirit Discovery when a storm hit the cruise ship while travelling up the UK coastline - and ended up injuring 100 people.
After being bombarded by strong winds and powerful rain in the Bay of Biscay, one passenger said some onboard 'feared for their lives'.
Cruise company Saga has seen described most of the injuries as 'minor' in a statement to the BBC.
"People were writing texts to their loved ones in case we capsized," one unidentified passenger told the outlet.
"The tone of voice in our captain... he was physically scared. We had crew crying. We had many passengers in awful states of fear.
"To say 'minor injuries' is an insult to the many horrific broken bones, pelvises, lacerations, stitches etc. that were caused [to] a very old passenger clientele."