The four Irish passengers who were rescued from a cruise ship in the Southern Ocean are expected to arrive home this week, according to the travel company that organised the cruise.
The four were among 100 passengers and 54 crew who escaped uninjured from the MV Explorer after it hit ice and started to sink off King George Island at around midnight on Thursday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it would not be releasing the names or details of the Irish passengers.
A spokesman said the department had been in contact with the families, and its embassy in Buenos Aires had been liaising with the group. "They are safe and well," he said.
A spokesman for the travel company, G.A.P. Adventures, said accommodation had been arranged for the passengers in Punta Arenas, Chile, and they had been provided with clothes and money for personal expenses.
"Transport to get them home is being arranged at present," he said.
However, he added that this could take some days due to the small number of available flights.
The MV Explorer has been used on expeditions around Ireland.
Before this incident, travel company Noble Caledonia was planning two coastal cruises of Scotland, Ireland and England on the vessel for next May and June.
The Irish leg of the trip included the Skelligs and Dingle, the Aran Islands and Tory Island.
