Without warning, an enormous mass of ice from the tongue of the nearby Allalingletscher broke off. In mere seconds, the avalanche had rushed down the slopes and buried much of the construction camp, killing 88 workers. The Threat of Icebergs Icebergs broken off, or calved, from ice shelves and tidewater glaciers pose a significant threat to sea lanes worldwide. One of the most famous examples is the Titanic, which in April 1912 carried 1,503 passengers to a watery grave after a collision with an iceberg that ripped a 90 meter hole in the ship. Shipping lanes along the coasts of Greenland and Newfoundland are historically iceberg-infested waters.
Icebergs calved by glacial ice continue to present problems even today.
Recently, an enormous iceberg, over 80 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide, broke away from the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Because this iceberg may threaten southern shipping routes, it is being carefully observed by satellites and aerial survey.