FACTBOX-Antarctic cruise ship owner G.A.P. Adventures

Fri Nov 23, 2007 7:17pm GMT

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(Reuters) - Here are five facts about G.A.P. Adventures, owner of a cruise ship that hit ice in Antarctica and started sinking. All 154 passengers and crew on board the MS Explorer were brought to safety by a nearby Norwegian cruise ship and no injuries were reported.

- Toronto-based G.A.P. Adventures -- the name stands for Great Adventure People -- was founded in 1990 and describes itself as the world's largest adventure tour operator, with more than 500 offices around the world.

- The company offers small group outdoor adventures, including cruises and safaris, in all seven continents, sending 60,000 people each year on vacations.

- G.A.P. bought its MS Explorer cruise ship in June 2004. The ship was built in 1969 and can carry 108 passengers.

- The company says the MS Explorer was the first passenger ship to journey through the Northwest Passage, the famed Arctic waterway linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

- The company runs 11 trips to Antarctica. Its Web site promises: "A continent of superlatives. It is the coldest, windiest, driest, iciest and highest of all the major landmasses in the world."

(Reporting by Irene Kuan, editing by Vicki Allen)