NI ice survivor 'in good spirits'

Raymond King was rescued from the M/S Explorer

The wife of a Belfast man rescued from a sinking liner in the Antarctic has said he is in good spirits and will return home in the next few days.

Raymond King, 67, was one of 154 people on board the M/S Explorer when it struck an iceberg on Friday.

He spent several hours in a lifeboat before being airlifted to Chile.

Mr King's wife Muriel, who has spoken to him by telephone, said: "It was absolutely a miracle there is no doubt about it," she said.

"He said he was standing in his welly boots and his clothes that is all he had.

"He is in good heart and I think he is looking forward to getting home.

"He had managed to save his pipe, his camera and his watch. He was telling me about how grateful he was to all the Chilean sailors and the engineers who stayed on the boat until the bitter end.

His wife said it was a great relief that her husband, a retired headmaster, was safe.

"We lost our son Peter in 1993 after an accident in Donegal and I really couldn't have coped with another tragedy.

In pictures: Ship rescue Lure of polar extremes

"I was praying Raymond would be fine, and when I got a call from my daughter to assure me he was well, I was absolutely delighted."

Mr King, the former principal of Monkstown Community School in Newtownabbey, is now recovering in a Chilean military hospital.

About half of the shipwrecked tourists and crew were taken to mainland Chile on a military transport plane.

Four Irish people are among the rescued.

The ship sank after hitting an iceberg during a "Spirit of Shackleton" cruise - costing from around $8,000 (£3,900) per cabin - through the Drake Passage.

The ship ran into trouble approximately 120km (75 miles) north of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The company said pumps had been used in an effort to stop the ship sinking, but in the meantime the captain gave the order to abandon ship, and passengers were transferred to lifeboats.

After several hours bobbing on the sea amid floating sheets of ice, they were plucked to safety by the Norwegian cruise ship, the Nordnorge.

Coastguards said although the weather conditions were good for this time of year, the average temperature was still -5C.