GUERNSEYMAN Kerry Bateman was a survivor of Friday’s shipwreck in the Antarctic. He was on board the cruise liner Explorer when it hit an iceberg just off the South Shetland Islands, friend Rob Turville said.

After spending several hours in life rafts amid the ice floes, the 154 passengers and crew were plucked to safety by the Nordnorge, a Norwegian cruise ship.

No injuries have been reported.

Mr Turville said he had received an email with news about the incident from Mr Bateman’s brother Ross, who now lives off-island and who acted as an usher, along with his brother, at Mr Turville’s wedding to his wife, Jo.

And Mr Turville, who said he was relieved that his friend had escaped unharmed, said that he was confident Mr Bateman, who is in his late 30s, would be doing well, despite his ordeal.

‘Kerry was on the boat, but everybody’s fine as far as we know,’ he said.

‘There was the initial shock among the passengers, but everyone seems to be doing fine now, according to Ross’s email,’ he said.

‘Thankfully, nothing serious happened to anyone.

‘Kerry’s a very happy-go-lucky type of bloke. He tends to go off on these long holidays and he’s a very keen writer. We were joking between ourselves that he’s brought this upon himself. After all, it will make a great chapter.’

Mr Turville added that the only worry he had had was that the passengers were evacuated at 6am in the cold.

‘Kerry does tend to sleep in the nude, so let’s hope he managed to get some clothes on before going overboard,’ he said.

‘But he’s quite a big man, with no hair on his head but a big, full beard and very hairy chest, so it looks like he’s wearing a jumper.

‘He’ll be getting beers off this tale for a long time to come.’

The Explorer Antarctica trip – run by Toronto-based holiday specialist Gap Adventures – saw the tour group embark from Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Argentina, on 11 November for a 19-day Spirit of Shackleton cruise through the Drake Passage, costing from about £3,900 per cabin.

The vessel itself has a number of recent links to the Bailiwick, having visited St Peter Port in June 2006 and having anchored in Braye Bay, Alderney, in June, reportedly piloted in by Alderney harbour master Steve Shaw.

And in July, Queen’s Road resident Jean Bishop went on a trip to the Arctic with her husband in celebration of their silver wedding anniversary, hoping to see polar bears before they were wiped out as a result of the melting ice caps.

And Mrs Bishop had no doubts about the ship’s safety.

‘The crew were all so safety conscious,’ she said.

‘We were very impressed with the ship and the trip itself. It was absolutely brilliant. I don’t know if it’s the same captain running this trip, but we were very sad to hear the news.’