The ordeal of MS Explorer passengers has ended after they were flown to Punta Arenas in southern Chile. The cruise ship sank after hitting an iceberg in the Antarctic.

Passengers walk to the first flight from their refuge on King George Island just off Antarctica. They were transferred to lifeboats after being ordered to abandon ship.

Many tourists lost everything when the Explorer sank after setting off from Ushuaia, on Argentina's southern tip, for a 'Spirit of Shackleton' cruise through the Drake Passage.

Evacuees spent four-and-a-half hours in lifeboats before being taken to military bases on King George Island for two nights. Bad weather delayed the first flight out.

Exhausted passengers were transported to Punta Arenas on a Chilean Air Force C-130 Hercules. A second plane will airlift the remainder of the 154 passenger and crew.

Passengers spoke of their joy after being rescued by a Norwegian ship after hours bobbing amid floating sheets of ice. Amazingly, no injuries were reported.

Some passengers whooped for joy and punched the air in relief as they stepped off the plane. They praised the Explorer's captain for the way the evacuation was handled.

Danish tourist Jan Henkel, 42, proposed to his girlfriend Mette Larsen after the rescue. Good weather conditions helped avert a tragedy, but the average temperature was still -5C.

The life-threatening ordeal has not put everyone off a return trip. British evacuee Gillian Plant, 40, declared: "I would come to Antarctica again."