Icebound Antarctic ship awaits helicopter rescue

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  Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy is trapped in thick Antarctic ice 1,500 nautical miles south of Hobart, Australia, -Source: AP

Passengers on board a research ship that has been trapped in Antarctic ice for a week are expected to be rescued by helicopter, after three icebreakers failed to reach the paralyzed vessel, officials said today.

The 74 scientists, tourists and crew on the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been stuck since Christmas Eve, had been hoping the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis would be able to crack through the thick ice and allow them to continue on their way.

The Aurora came within 20 kilometers of the ship yesterday, but fierce winds and snow forced it to retreat to open water.

Today, the weather remained bleak, and the crew on the Aurora said their vessel would also be at risk of getting stuck if it made another rescue attempt, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue.

A helicopter on board a Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, will be used to collect the passengers. The Snow Dragon, which is waiting with the Aurora at the edge of the ice pack, was also unable to crack through the ice, as was France's L'Astrolabe.

But the helicopter must wait for a break in the weather before it can attempt a rescue, and conditions aren't expected to improve before Wednesday, the maritime authority said. The passengers will be flown back to the Snow Dragon in groups of 12, and then transferred by barge to the Aurora.

All 52 passengers will be evacuated, but the crew on the Akademik Shokalskiy will stay behind with the ship and wait for the ice to break up naturally, expedition spokesman Alvin Stone said.

A simple shift in the wind could free the ship. Winds from the east have been pounding the ship and pushing the ice around the vessel. A westerly wind would help break up the ice, Stone said. The trouble is, no one knows when the wind will change.

The Akademik Shokalskiy, which left New Zealand on November 28, got stuck on Christmas Eve after a blizzard pushed the sea ice around the ship, freezing it in place. The ship isn't in danger of sinking, and there are weeks' worth of supplies on board, but the vessel cannot move.
Still, those on board appeared to be taking it all in stride.

"Surprisingly, all the passengers seem to be considering it the adventure of a lifetime," Stone said.

'Overall morale is really good'

Speaking from the Akademik Shokalskiy, exhibition leader Chris Turney told ONE News earlier today morale among the passengers was holding up.

"Overall morale is really good. We are dealing with it almost every day, almost every hour sometimes, just letting people know what's happening. 

"People are becoming a little more philosophical about timelines; you never know what's going to happen."

Mr Turney said he had expected they would spend New Year's Eve on the ship as another bout of bad weather, including high winds, poor visibility and snow, sets in. 

He said an aerial evacuation is a possibility if none of the available vessels are able to carve out a route to the ship.

However, the weather would have to be settled in order for an aerial evacuation to take place.