London, April 6: Latest reports indicate that an ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped, which could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away.

According to a report by BBC News, scientists say the collapse provides further evidence of rapid change caused by warming in the region.

Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been retreating since the 1990s.

Berlin  - The Wilkins Ice Shelf, a monster iceberg more than 100 kilometres across, is about to separate from the Antarctic continent and float free, possibly as a result of global warming, two German scientists said Friday.

Rifts have developed in the narrow "ice bridge," which is the last link between the shelf and the Antarctic Peninsula, reported the European Space Agency (ESA), quoting scientists Angelika Humbert and Matthias Braun, who have been observing the ice using satellite photos.

Neumayer Station, Antarctica - A new research base in Antarctica inaugurated Friday by Germany is built on stilts and can be jacked up higher so that it always remains above snowdrifts.

Two previous building complexes named Neumayer Station, at the Antarctic coast opposite Cape Town, South Africa, have been wrecked and buried as the ice shelf under them deformed. The ice surface is raised by about 1 metre of new snow every year.

Buenos Aires  - The cruise ship Ocean Nova managed to get out of trouble at high tide in the early hours of Thursday, two days after running aground near an Argentine military base in Antarctica.

Quark Expeditions, the US-based company that operates the ship, said its hull suffered no damage, according to Spanish divers who inspected the 73-metre-long Ocean Nova. There were also no fuel leaks.

Buenos Aires  - The cruise ship Ocean Nova managed to get out of trouble at high tide in the early hours of Thursday, two days after running aground near an Argentine military base in Antarctica.

Quark Expeditions, the US-based company that operates the ship, said its hull suffered no damage, according to Spanish divers who inspected the 73-metre-long Ocean Nova. There were also no fuel leaks.

The 65 passengers had been evacuated Wednesday to the ship Clipper Adventurer, also operated by Quark Expeditions, and were sailing to the southernmost Argentine town, Ushuaia. The crew of 41 remained on the Ocean Nova.

Buenos Aires - The cruise ship Ocean Nova, with 106 people on board, was to attempt again Wednesday to free itself after running aground a day earlier near an Argentine military base in Antarctica.

Amid strong winds, the ship awaited the arrival of another cruise ship to which its passengers might be evacuated.

Passengers were in good condition and out of danger, Patrick Shaw, chairman of the company Quark Expeditions which operates the Ocean Nova, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.