by Donald Wood
Last updated: 1:40 PM ET, Mon December 2, 2019
A truck transporting around 200 pieces of luggage belonging to passengers on a Hurtigruten ship was stolen Thursday in Chile.
According to the Norwegian publication, News in English, Hurtigruten's Roald Amundsen was docked in the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas preparing for a sailing to Antarctica when the truck carrying the passengers' luggage was hijacked.
Authorities found the truck abandoned a short time later, but the suitcases inside were missing. As a result, around 15 passengers chose to skip the trip to deal with the aftermath of the robbery, but none of the travelers were ever in any danger.
Hurtigruten officials helped customers impacted by the robbery find new clothes and other necessary items for the trip to Antarctica. The voyages typically cost around $5,500 per person, but Thursday's sailing was delayed due to the theft.
TravelPulse reached out to Hurtigruten, who shared an official statement on the incident:
"In the early hours of November 28, a truck transporting luggage for Hurtigruten was stolen while traveling between downtown Santiago, Chile, and the nearby international airport. The truck was later recovered, but without the more than 200 bags it carried.
No guests were involved in the incident, and fortunately, no staff members of the local company organizing and operating the luggage transport on Hurtigruten's behalf were injured.
Hurtigruten's focus in this extraordinary incident is to support our guests. We are assisting them in all ways possible to make sure they have the clothes and equipment they need for their Antarctica expedition. The ship has continued the voyage as planned.
Hurtigruten's local partner is one of Chile's largest and most experienced tourism companies, with over 70 years of experience from the tourism industry.
Hurtigruten is closely supporting and assisting our local partners and Chilean police investigating the incident."
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