/ 21 December 1999

STRANDED PASSENGERS FINALLY HOME

PASSENGERS left stranded when their ship broke down off the French west coast in November have finally arrived on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. St. Helena Line general manager Tony Bownes said a replacement ship, the Greek-registered MTS Jason, arrived on Saturday at St. Helena, a British overseas territory, with 223 passengers on board. The Royal Mail Ship St. Helena, which operates between Britain, Cape Town and St. Helena, is the only regular ship to the island, which has no airport. It encountered engine problems in the Bay of Biscay on November 5 and was forced to limp to Brest, in Brittany. The 130 passengers on board, most of them residents of St. Helena, were then flown back to Britain where they waited for a replacement ship.