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Semester
at Sea ship containing CSULB students hit
by wave
By
David Whisler
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
A
group of adventurous college students, including
two from Cal State Long Beach, got more
than they bargained for Wednesday when the
Semester at Sea ship that they are traveling
on was hit by a 50-foot wave.
The
MV Explorer was cruising in the Pacific
Ocean, south of the Aleutian Islands, near
the International Date Line, when it was
struck by the rogue wave.
Injuries
were reported, including two crewmembers,
but none are critical. Many of the ship's
windows were shattered, and there was a
temporary loss of some systems.
Coast
Guard vessels and aircraft from Alaska and
Hawaii were dispatched to help the Explorer,
that was 650 miles south of the Aleutian
Islands and about 1,600 miles from Honolulu.
The
ship for a time operated on just one of
its four engines and could do little more
than keep the bow headed into heavy seas
using emergency steering. By Wednesday evening,
a second engine had been started and the
ship was making headway at a speed of about
10 knots, or about 11.5 mph, said Coast
Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Glynn Smith.
"This
ship is three years old," Smith said.
"It's super-technologically advanced,
so when the water got into the bridge it
shorted the electrical system and then the
engine. But they always have a back-up system,
and that's what they went with."
Smith
said ship never lost internal electrical
power and maintained good communications
with the Coast Guard, Smith said. A medical
staff of two doctors and two nurses is on
board.
Jim
Lawrence, a spokesman for V. Ships, the
technical managers of the ship, said that
everything is back to normal on the ship.
Students are sleeping and resting, and classes
are expected to resume.
"The
ship is making way to Midway [Island] or
Hawaii where it will be inspected and any
necessary repairs will be made," CSULB
spokesperson Toni Beron said. The names
of the CSULB students aboard have not been
released yet.
Lawrence
said that going to port in Hawaii instead
of Pusan, Korea, as originally planned will
take the vessel into calmer waters and allow
it to make repairs.
As
of Thursday, the Explorer's phone, fax and
e-mail systems were still down, and officials
were communicating with the captain via
marine band radio.
Semester
at Sea is a global comparative study-abroad
program for undergraduate students, said
Paul Watson, director of enrollment management
for the Institute for Shipboard Education.
The program is academically sponsored by
the University of Pittsburgh. Semester at
Sea, originally called the University of
the Seven Seas, was founded in 1963 by a
group of California educators and business
people.
The
100-day voyage began Jan. 18 in Vancouver,
British Columbia, with 990 people aboard:
681 students, 113 faculty and staff and
196 crew members.
After
Pusan, their itinerary includes Kobe, Japan;
Shanghai and Hong Kong, China; Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam; Chennai, India; Mombasa,
Kenya; Cape Town, South Africa; Salvador,
Brazil; La Guaira, Venezuela; and Fort Lauderdale,
Fla.
The
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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