The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier was involved in a collision Wednesday with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea, the Navy announced.
“The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at approximately 11:46 p.m. local time, Feb. 12, while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea,” the Navy’s Sixth Fleet Public Affairs said in a statement.
“The collision did not endanger the Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) as there are no reports of flooding or injuries. The propulsion plants are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition,” it added.
The Navy said the incident is now “under investigation.”
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman leaves the French Mediterranean port of Marseille on Dec. 3, 2024.(Gerard Bottino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The circumstances leading up to the collision were not immediately clear.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.
The US Navy has confirmed that the USS Harry S. Truman, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was involved in a collision near Egypt. The incident occurred during a routine transit through the Suez Canal. Fortunately, there were no reported injuries to the crew, and the ship remains fully operational.
The Navy is currently investigating the cause of the collision and working to assess any damage to the aircraft carrier. The safety of the crew and the ship are top priorities, and appropriate measures will be taken to ensure their well-being and the continued readiness of the USS Harry S. Truman.
Updates on the situation will be provided as more information becomes available. Our thoughts are with the crew of the USS Harry S. Truman as they navigate through this challenging situation.
Crews began removing wreckage from the Potomac River from last week’s deadly plane collision between an airliner and an Army helicopter. The midair crash was the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001.
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Salvage crews have removed a large portion of a commercial jet from the Potomac River near Washington’s Reagan National Airport on Monday, five days after a midair collision last week that killed 67 people.
Authorities have said the operation to remove the plane will take several days and they will then work to remove the military helicopter involved in the crash.
The crash between the American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter over Washington D.C. on Wednesday was the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001.
Authorities have recovered and identified 55 of the 67 people killed in the crash and Washington, D.C., Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly has said they are confident all will be found. Crews early Monday could be seen aboard a vessel with a crane.
More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at any given time, officials said. Two Navy barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage.
Divers and salvage workers are adhering to strict protocols and will stop moving debris if a body is found, Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said Sunday. The “dignified recovery” of remains takes precedence over all else, he said.
Portions of the two aircraft that collided over the river Wednesday night near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport — an American Airlines jet with 64 people aboard and an Army Black Hawk helicopter with 3 aboard — are being loaded onto flatbed trucks and will be taken to a hangar for investigation.
The crash occurred when the jet, en route from Wichita, Kansas, was about to land. The Black Hawk was on a training mission. There were no survivors.
On Sunday, family members were taken in buses with a police escort to the Potomac River bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding.
The plane’s passengers included figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were in the helicopter.
Federal investigators were working to piece together the events that led to the collision. Full investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.
Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.
The NTSB said Saturday that preliminary data showed conflicting readings about the altitudes of the airliner and the helicopter.
Investigators also said that about a second before impact, the jet’s flight recorder showed a change in its pitch. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant that pilots were trying to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid the crash.
Data from the jet’s flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet (99 meters), plus or minus 25 feet (7.6 meters), when the crash happened, NTSB officials told reporters. Data in the control tower, though, showed the Black Hawk at 200 feet (61 meters), the maximum allowed altitude for helicopters in the area.
The discrepancy has yet to be explained.
Investigators said they hoped to reconcile the difference with data from the helicopter’s black box and planned to refine the tower data, which can be less reliable.
___
Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed reporting.
Aircraft Down The sun rises above a wreckage site in the Potomac River across from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
APTOPIX Aircraft Down The sun rises and a jet lifts off above a wreckage site in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Aircraft Down Rescue and salvage crews with cranes work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. . (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Aircraft Down Rescue and salvage crews with cranes work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Aircraft Down Rescue and salvage crews with cranes pull up the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Aircraft Down Rescue and salvage crews with cranes pull up the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Aircraft Down Rescue and salvage crews with cranes work to pull up the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Aircraft Down Rescue and salvage crews pull up a plane engine as cranes work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac river from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Aircraft Down Rescue and salvage crews pull up a plane engine as cranes work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac river from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
APTOPIX Aircraft Down Rescue and salvage crews pull up a plane engine as cranes work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Aircraft Down Rescue and salvage crews pull up a plane engine as cranes work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac river from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
In a tragic incident near Washington DC, salvage crews have successfully removed a large portion of a commercial jet from the Potomac River following a deadly air collision. The collision, which occurred between a passenger jet and a smaller private plane, resulted in multiple fatalities and has left the local community in shock.
The salvage crews have been working tirelessly to recover as much of the wreckage as possible, in order to investigate the cause of the collision and to provide closure to the families of the victims. The process has been challenging, as the wreckage was submerged in the river and required specialized equipment and expertise to safely remove.
Authorities are continuing their investigation into the cause of the collision, which is believed to have been caused by a miscommunication between air traffic controllers and the pilots of the two planes. The tragedy has raised questions about the safety of air traffic in the region and has prompted calls for improved communication and coordination between pilots and air traffic control.
As the community mourns the loss of those who perished in the collision, salvage crews are working diligently to recover the remaining wreckage and provide answers to the families of the victims. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic event, and we hope that lessons can be learned to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The world’s biggest iceberg — three time the size of New York City — could drift towards a remote island where a scientist warns it risks disrupting feeding for baby penguins and seals.
Satellite imagery suggested that unlike previous “megabergs,” this rogue was not crumbling into smaller chunks as it plodded through the Southern Ocean, Andrew Meijers, a physical oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey, told AFP on Friday.
He said predicting its exact course was difficult but prevailing currents suggested the colossus would reach the shallow continental shelf around South Georgia in two to four weeks.
But what might happen next is anyone’s guess, he said.
It could avoid the shelf and get carried into open water beyond South Georgia, a British overseas territory some 870 miles east of the Falkland Islands.
Or it could strike the sloping bottom and get stuck for months or break up into pieces.
An infographic titled “A23a iceberg headed toward collision with South Georgia” created in Ankara, Turkiye on January 23, 2025.
Omar Zaghloul/Anadolu via Getty Images
Meijers said this scenario could seriously impede seals and penguins trying to feed and raise their young on the island. The island hosts 1.3 million pairs of Chinstrap penguins — one of the world’s largest colonies — about 5 million seals, and 65 million breeding birds.
“Icebergs have grounded there in the past and that has caused significant mortality to penguin chicks and seal pups,” he said.
Roughly 1,550 square miles across, the world’s biggest and oldest iceberg, known as A23a, calved from the Antarctic shelf in 1986. Before its calving in 1986, the colossal iceberg hosted a Soviet research station. falley
It remained stuck for over 30 years before finally breaking free in 2020, its lumbering journey north sometimes delayed by ocean forces that kept it spinning in place. In 2023, the British Antarctic Survey posted a time-lapse of satellite imagery, showing the iceberg’s movement.
“Game of Thrones-esque” iceberg
Meijers — who encountered the iceberg face to face while leading a scientific mission in late 2023 — described “a huge white cliff, 40 or 50 meters high, that stretches from horizon to horizon”.
“It’s just like this white wall. It’s very sort of Game of Thrones-esque, actually,” he said, referring to the dark fantasy series.
A23a has followed roughly the same path as previous massive icebergs, passing the east side of the Antarctica Peninsula through the Weddell Sea along a route called “iceberg alley.” That is the same current of water that famed explorer Ernest Shackleton used in 1916 to make his storied escape from Antarctica after losing his ship, the Endurance. The legendary shipwreck was discovered off the coast of Antarctica in 2022.
Weighing a little under a trillion tons, this monster block of freshwater was being whisked along by the world’s most powerful ocean “jet stream” — the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
Raul Cordero from Chile’s University of Santiago, who is also part of the National Antarctic Research Committee, said he was confident the iceberg would sidestep South Georgia.
In this handout photo provided by the British Antarctic Survey, a view of the A23a iceberg is seen from the RRS Sir David Attenborough, Antarctica, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023.
Andrew Meijers / AP
“The island acts as an obstacle for ocean currents and therefore usually diverts the water long before it reaches the island,” he said.
“The iceberg is moved by that water flow, so the chances of it hitting are not that high,” though chunks could, he said.
Another scientist, glaciologist Soledad Tiranti currently on an Argentinian exploration voyage in the Antarctic, said that icebergs such as A23a “are so deep that before reaching an island or mainland they generally get stuck” on the seabed.
It is summer in South Georgia and resident penguins and seals along its southern coastline are foraging in the frosty waters to bring back food to fatten their young.
“If the iceberg parks there, it’ll either block physically where they feed from, or they’ll have to go around it,” said Meijers.
“That burns a huge amount of extra energy for them, so that’s less energy for the pups and chicks, which causes increased mortality.”
The seal and penguin populations on South Georgia have already been having a “bad season” with an outbreak of bird flu “and that (iceberg) would make it significantly worse,” he said.
As A23a ultimately melted it could seed the water with nutrients that encourage phytoplankton growth, feeding whales and other species, and allowing scientists to study how such blooms absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
While icebergs are natural phenomena, Meijers said the rate at which they were being lost from Antarctica was increasing, likely due to human induced climate change.
In January 2023, a massive piece of Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf — a chunk about the size of two New York Cities — broke free. The Brunt Ice Shelf lies across the Weddell Sea from the site of the Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula. In 2022, the Larsen C ice shelf — which was roughly the size of New York City and was long considered to be stable — collapsed into the sea.
In a scenario straight out of a Game of Thrones episode, the world’s largest iceberg is on a collision course with a tiny Antarctic penguin island. Scientists are monitoring the massive iceberg, which is roughly the size of the state of Delaware, as it drifts ominously closer to the island.
The iceberg, named A68a, broke off from the Larsen C ice shelf in 2017 and has been slowly drifting towards the island ever since. If it continues on its current path, it could potentially wreak havoc on the island’s fragile ecosystem, home to thousands of penguins and other wildlife.
Experts are scrambling to come up with a plan to mitigate the potential disaster, whether it be towing the iceberg away or creating barriers to protect the island. The fate of the penguins hangs in the balance as they face the looming threat of a catastrophic collision.
As the world watches and waits to see how this real-life Game of Thrones-esque drama unfolds, one thing is certain: the stakes couldn’t be higher for the adorable inhabitants of this remote Antarctic island.
After breaking free in December, it’s now traveling along the Antarctic circumpolar current. “It’s the strongest current on Earth,” says Meijers.
“It’s going to head more or less straight towards [South Georgia],” says Meijers. This wildlife haven is home to fur seals, albatrosses, gentoo penguins, and more.
On its current trajectory, A23a will reach a sharp turn in the current. “The iceberg weighs a trillion tons so it’s not turning on a dime,” he says. If it overshoots, it could run aground in shallow waters until it melts enough to keep moving or break up. “It’s anyone’s guess what it might do,” he says.
The threat to South Georgia’s wildlife
Grounding near the shallow continental shelf close to South Georgia could block off routes between feeding and breeding areas for many penguin and seal colonies. This disruption “forces the adults to swim further, burn more energy and, basically, bring back less,” says Meijers, resulting in higher mortality and potentially worsening the impact of bird flu on both seals and penguins
Timing is important. “In October, the penguins decide where they’re going to nest,” says Maria Vernet, a marine ecologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. An enormous, steep iceberg that’s “more like an apartment building,” is a bigger threat when the eggs and chicks are in the nest and utterly dependent on their parents.
In a concerning turn of events, the world’s largest iceberg is currently on a collision course with a vital penguin sanctuary. The iceberg, known as A68a, broke off from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica in 2017 and has been drifting towards the South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The sanctuary, home to over 1.5 million penguins, is at risk of being severely impacted by the collision. The iceberg, which is roughly the size of the island itself, could disrupt the penguins’ habitat, block their access to food sources, and potentially cause widespread devastation to the population.
Scientists and conservationists are closely monitoring the situation and are exploring potential solutions to mitigate the impact of the collision. However, the sheer size and trajectory of the iceberg make it a challenging and urgent situation.
Efforts are being made to track the movement of the iceberg and assess the potential risks to the penguin sanctuary. It is crucial that immediate action is taken to protect this vital ecosystem and ensure the safety and well-being of the penguin population. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.
The ratings and viewership data are in for the latest edition of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, which aired at the same time as the Jan. 24 episode of AEW Collision.
The second SNME special WWE produced under their latest contract with NBCUniversal aired on NBC and streamed on Peacock. Nielson doesn’t track Peacock, so the numbers Wrestlenomics has don’t include any streaming viewers. According to those, last weekend’s Gunther/Jey Uso-headlined show was watched by 1,494,000 and did a .33 rating with 18-49 year-olds. That’s down from the number of TV viewers the Dec. 14 edition had by about 6%. It’s a much steeper 21% drop from the previous SNME’s demo rating, however.
A full ratings report hasn’t been posted yet, but Wrestlenomics has information on Saturday night’s other live sports options. ABC’s NBA game had some big names involved as the Lakers beat the Warriors, and it won the night in primetime with a .70 demo rating from an overall audience of 3.05 million. Both games in ESPN’s college basketball doubleheader outperformed wrestling, too. The Houston/Kansas game at 7 p.m. ET did a .36 off 1.7 million viewers, and the Tennessee/Auburn game that followed at 9 p.m. ET got a .40 rating from an audience totaling 1.75 million.
And Collision? AEW’s Saturday primetime show on TNT had 250,000 viewers with a .07 rating among 18-49 year olds. Those are week-to-week declines in both: overall audience by 27%, and the demo number off 30%. It’s a few more viewers than the episode that aired opposite last month’s SNME did, but the rating was down compared to that show. Such is life for Collision when it goes opposite a WWE event.
Which is bad news, because this Saturday AEW airs opposite Royal Rumble. We’ll see how it fares. Until then…
It’s not much now, but we’ll track SNME’s performance (on television) as WWE continues the show’s new run…
You can catch up on the latest Saturday Night’s Main Event with our live blog, and recap/review.
We’ll also continue keeping tabs on Collision in our regular rundown of the show’s viewership and demo rating over the past year…
* Aired outside its usual Saturday primetime slot
Results from the latest Collision can be found here. To read a recap & review of Collision, click here.
WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event vs. AEW Collision: Who Came Out on Top in the Ratings?
In the battle of the wrestling giants, WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event and AEW’s Collision went head-to-head in a ratings war. Both promotions pulled out all the stops to deliver an action-packed night of wrestling entertainment, but only one could come out on top.
According to the latest Nielsen ratings, WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event came out victorious with a total viewership of 2.5 million, making it the most-watched wrestling program of the night. The show featured high-flying action, intense rivalries, and jaw-dropping surprises that kept fans on the edge of their seats.
On the other hand, AEW’s Collision pulled in a respectable 1.8 million viewers, proving that the upstart promotion is a force to be reckoned with in the world of professional wrestling. The show showcased top-tier talent, hard-hitting matches, and an electric atmosphere that captivated audiences from start to finish.
While WWE may have emerged as the ratings winner this time around, AEW’s Collision proved that they are a legitimate contender in the wrestling landscape. Fans can expect even more thrilling matchups and showdowns in the future as these two promotions continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in the world of sports entertainment.
The Stars have another potentially key injury on their hands after superstar defenseman Miro Heiskanen was involved in an awkward collision with Mark Stone during the third period of Tuesday’s matchup with the Golden Knights.
Stone was skating towards Heiskanen and fell into Heiskanen’s left leg, causing a very scary collision. Heiskanen needed assistance off the ice and was barely able to put any weight on his left leg.
Stone was assessed a two-minute penalty for tripping and the Stars on the ice took issue with the hit on Heiskanen. While it seemed to be shockingly dirty hit at first, which is why Dallas players reacted the way they did, Stone appeared to incidentally trip on Roope Hintz’s stick, which caused him to fall into Heiskanen’s legs.
Sports Roundup
Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis, scores and more.
Pointed out by Ferraro, but it looks like Roope Hintz caught Mark Stone in the skates with his stick, which is what caused that unfortunate Miro Heiskanen sequence. pic.twitter.com/lvDFhjE3J8
The Stars did come back from a 3-1 deficit and go on to win the game in overtime thanks to Wyatt Johnston’s hat trick, though Heiskanen left the game and did not return.
Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen left Thursday night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights after a scary collision with forward Mark Stone. The incident occurred in the second period when Stone inadvertently collided with Heiskanen along the boards, causing the young defenseman to fall awkwardly to the ice.
Heiskanen was slow to get up and appeared to be in considerable pain as he was helped off the ice by trainers. The Stars later confirmed that he would not return to the game due to an upper-body injury.
The 21-year-old Finn has been a key player for the Stars this season, averaging over 24 minutes of ice time per game and contributing offensively with 27 points in 43 games. Losing him to injury would be a significant blow to the team as they continue to push for a playoff spot in the competitive Central Division.
We wish Miro Heiskanen a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the ice soon. Stay tuned for updates on his condition as more information becomes available.
One of the most important players on the Dallas Stars was injured in a collision in a game Tuesday night.
Miro Heiskanen was injured when Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone was tripped by Stars forward Roope Hintz and slid hard into Heiskanen’s left leg midway through the third period.
Heiskanen was slow to get up and had to be helped down the tunnel to the locker room. Stone was given a tripping penalty on the play.
Heiskanen, 25, plays in all situations for the Stars and leads the team in ice time with 25:16, nearly three minutes more than any other teammate. He is also expected to play a significant role for Team Finland at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Stars did not have an immediate update on Heiskanen’s condition.
Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was injured in a collision with Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone during Thursday night’s game. The two players collided in the second period, with Heiskanen appearing to hit his head on the ice.
Heiskanen was slow to get up after the collision and had to be helped off the ice by trainers. He did not return to the game and his status for future games is uncertain.
The Stars will sorely miss Heiskanen’s presence on the blue line, as he is a key player for their defense. The team will have to rely on their depth to fill the void left by his absence.
We wish Miro Heiskanen a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the ice soon. Stay tuned for updates on his condition as more information becomes available.
GUN HONEY: COLLISION COURSE #4 (CEDRIC POULAT EXCLUSIVE VARIANT A & B SET)
Price : 39.99
Ends on : N/A
View on eBay
Attention all Gun Honey fans! You won’t want to miss out on the latest release of Gun Honey: Collision Course #4, featuring an exclusive variant set by artist Cedric Poulat.
These limited edition variant covers, Variant A and Variant B, showcase Poulat’s stunning artwork and are sure to be a must-have for any collector.
In Gun Honey: Collision Course #4, our fearless heroine finds herself on a dangerous collision course with a ruthless enemy. Can she outsmart her adversaries and come out on top, or will she be caught in the crossfire?
Don’t miss out on your chance to own this exclusive variant set by Cedric Poulat. Pre-order now before they sell out! #GunHoney #CollisionCourse #CedricPoulatVariant
#GUN #HONEY #COLLISION #CEDRIC #POULAT #EXCLUSIVE #VARIANT #SET,ages 3+
The world’s largest iceberg is on a collision course with a remote British island, potentially putting penguins and seals in danger.
The iceberg is spinning northwards from Antarctica towards South Georgia, a rugged British territory and wildlife haven, where it could ground and smash into pieces. It is currently 173 miles (280km) away.
Countless birds and seals died on South Georgia’s icy coves and beaches when past giant icebergs stopped them feeding.
“Icebergs are inherently dangerous. I would be extraordinarily happy if it just completely missed us,” sea captain Simon Wallace tells BBC News, speaking from the South Georgia government vessel Pharos.
BFSAI
The RAF recently flew over the vast iceberg as it neared South Georgia
Around the world a group of scientists, sailors and fishermen are anxiously checking satellite pictures to monitor the daily movements of this queen of icebergs.
It is known as A23a and is one of the world’s oldest.
It calved, or broke off, from the Filchner Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 1986 but got stuck on the seafloor and then trapped in an ocean vortex.
Finally, in December, it broke free and is now on its final journey, speeding into oblivion.
The warmer waters north of Antarctica are melting and weakening its vast sides that extend up to 1,312ft (400m), taller than the Shard in London.
It once measured 3,900 sq km, but the latest satellite pictures show it is slowly decaying. It is now around 3,500 sq km, roughly the size of the English county of Cornwall.
And large slabs of ice are breaking off, plunging into the waters around its edges.
A23a could break into vast segments any day, which may then hang around for years, like floating cities of ice cruising uncontrollably around South Georgia.
This isn’t the first huge iceberg to threaten South Georgia and Sandwich Islands.
In 2004 one called A38 grounded on its continental shelf, leaving dead penguin chicks and seal pups on beaches as massive ice chunks blocked their access to feeding grounds.
The territory is home to precious colonies of King penguins and millions of elephant and fur seals.
“South Georgia sits in iceberg alley so impacts are to be expected for both fisheries and wildlife, and both have a great capacity to adapt,” says Mark Belchier, a marine ecologist who advises the South Georgia government.
Watch conditions at sea for sailors dodging icebergs in South Georgia
Sailors and fisherman say icebergs are an increasing problem. In 2023 one called A76 gave them a scare when it came close to grounding.
“Chunks of it were tipping up, so they looked like great ice towers, an ice city on the horizon,” says Mr Belchier, who saw the iceberg while at sea.
Those slabs are still lingering around the islands today.
“It is in bits from the size of several Wembley stadiums down to pieces the size of your desk,” says Andrew Newman from Argos Froyanes, a fishing company that works in South Georgia.
“Those pieces basically cover the island – we have to work our way through it,” says Captain Wallace.
The sailors on his ship must be constantly vigilant. “We have searchlights on all night to try to see ice – it can come from nowhere,” he explains.
A76 was a “gamechanger”, according to Mr Newman, with “huge impact on our operations and on keeping our vessel and crew safe”.
Simon Wallace
Ice is a way of life but Simon Wallace says an experienced sailor knows to avoid icebergs
All three men describe a rapidly changing environment, with glacial retreat visible year-to-year, and volatile levels of sea ice.
Climate change is unlikely to have been behind the birth of A23a because it calved so long ago, before much of the impacts of rising temperatures that we are now seeing.
But giant icebergs are part of our future. As Antarctica becomes more unstable with warmer ocean and air temperatures, more vast pieces of the ice sheets will break away.
Before its time comes to an end though, A23a has left a parting gift for scientists.
A team with the British Antarctic Survey on the Sir David Attenborough research vessel found themselves close to A23a in 2023.
The scientists scrambled to exploit the rare opportunity to investigate what mega icebergs do to the environment.
Tony Jolliffe/BBC
Samples that Laura Taylor took from A23a help her research how icebergs affect the carbon cycle
The ship sailed into a crack in the iceberg’s gigantic walls, and PhD researcher Laura Taylor collected precious water samples 400m away from its cliffs.
“I saw a massive wall of ice way higher than me, as far as I could see. It has different colours in different places. Chunks were falling off – it was quite magnificent,” she explains from her lab in Cambridge where she is now analysing the samples.
Her work looks at what the impact the melt water is having on the carbon cycle in the southern ocean.
Getty Images
“This isn’t just water like we drink. It’s full of nutrients and chemicals, as well as tiny animals like phytoplankton frozen inside,” Ms Taylor says.
As it melts, the iceberg releases those elements into the water, changing the physics and chemistry of the ocean.
That could store more carbon deep in the ocean, as the particles sink from the surface. That would naturally lock away some of the planet’s carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change.
Icebergs are notoriously unpredictable and no-one knows what exactly it will do next.
But soon the behemoth should appear, looming on the islands’ horizons, as big as the territory itself.
A23a: Giant iceberg on collision course with island
Residents of the small island of A23a are on high alert as a massive iceberg drifts dangerously close to their shores. The iceberg, which is several times larger than the island itself, has been steadily making its way towards A23a for the past week.
Authorities are closely monitoring the situation and have warned residents to prepare for a possible impact. Evacuation plans are being put into place in case the iceberg does collide with the island, posing a serious threat to the safety of the inhabitants.
Scientists are also keeping a close eye on the iceberg, studying its trajectory and trying to determine the likelihood of a collision. If the iceberg does make landfall, it could cause widespread destruction and potentially displace the entire population of A23a.
The situation is tense on A23a as residents brace themselves for a potential disaster. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.
The world’s largest and oldest iceberg, A23a a ‘mega-berg’ double the size of Greater London and weighing more than one trillion tonnes, is on the move after decades of being grounded on the seafloor – and it appears to be on a collision course with the remote British island of South Georgia.
Having broken free from its position north of the South Orkney Islands at the end of 2024 – where it had spent decades spinning on the spot in an ocean vortex – the trillion tonne ‘megaberg’ is now spinning northwards from Antarctica, and on a route that puts it one direct contact course with the British territory.
Researchers tracking the iceberg said that it was currently around 173 miles away from the remote island. Over the course of its journey so far, the warmer waters north of Antartica have started to melt and weaken A23a’s expansive cliffs. Despite this, the latest satellite imagery still puts the iceberg at roughly the size of Cornwall.
Current predictions suggest the iceberg will start to ground as it enters the South Georgia waters where it will break into smaller chunks of ice, forming what some have envisioned as a “floating city of icebergs”.
A23a is a colossal iceberg calved from Antarctica’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986. It had previously remained grounded on the seabed of the Weddell Sea for over 30 years, before beginning its slow journey north in 2020.
The movements of icebergs are typically unpredictable, meaning we can really only speculate as to where it might end up. If it does end up at South Georgia, however, it could have a dramatic impact on the island’s local wildlife and biodiversity, possibly blocking current pathways for feeding on the island’s beaches and coves.
South Georgia is home to a variety of wildlife, including large colonies of king emperor penguins, elephant seals and fur seals. Marine ecologist Mark Belchier told the BBC: “South Georgia sits in iceberg alley so impacts are to be expected for both fisheries and wildlife, and both have a great capacity to adapt.”
So far, A23a’s journey that has been marked by a series of intriguing scientific events. For months, the iceberg was trapped in a Taylor Column, an oceanographic phenomenon in which rotating water above a seamount traps objects in place.
It was this dynamic that kept A23a, visible from space, spinning in one spot, delaying its expected rapid drift north.
In a shocking turn of events, a trillion tonne iceberg has been spotted on a collision course with South Georgia. The massive iceberg, known as A23a, is one of the largest ever recorded and is set to cause widespread devastation upon impact.
Scientists and researchers are closely monitoring the iceberg’s trajectory, and have warned that the collision could have significant environmental and ecological impacts on the region. There are concerns about the potential damage to marine life, as well as the threat of flooding and destruction to coastal communities.
Authorities are working swiftly to develop contingency plans and evacuation procedures in case of emergency. The situation is being closely monitored, and updates will be provided as new information becomes available.
Stay tuned for further developments on this unprecedented event as we continue to track the path of A23a towards South Georgia.
You must be logged in to post a comment.