Antarctic Rescue Mission...[ 3284 ]

Bad Weather Impedes Antarctic Rescue Mission

Third Attempt to Reach Stranded Ship Fails

The Wall Street Journal

By Ross Kelly // Updated Dec. 30, 2013 3:31 a.m. ET//

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An inquisitive Adelie Penguin next to the stranded ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which is trapped in the ice at sea off Antarctica. AFP/Getty Images

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SYDNEY—Snow showers, strong winds and poor visibility are hampering attempts to rescue dozens of researchers, holidaymakers and crew on a ship trapped in Antarctic ice for almost a week.

Stuck in the Antarctic Ice

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European Pressphoto Agency

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Australia's maritime authority said the Aurora Australis, a vessel designed to break through thick blocks of ice, had come close to the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, a Russian ship that remains stranded after two earlier rescue attempts by other icebreakers failed.
The latest attempt to reach the passengers and crew was aborted after harsh weather forced the Australian rescue vessel back into open waters having come within 10 nautical miles of the distressed ship, the authority said late Monday. The icebreaker vessel is currently some 18 nautical miles away from its target.
"These weather conditions have resulted in poor visibility and made it difficult and unsafe for the Aurora Australis to continue today's attempt to assist," the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, or AMSA, said in a statement. Further rescue efforts may be made, it said.
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The Russian ship, carrying 74 people and chartered by a team of scientists, first sent out a distress call on Christmas Day after getting stuck in ice about 1,500 nautical miles south of Hobart, the capital of Australia's Tasmania state.
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French and Chinese icebreakers have already failed to reach the passengers, who are believed to have several weeks of essential supplies left. The Russian ship is trapped in the Australian search-and-rescue zone of Antarctica, putting AMSA in charge of the rescue operation.
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The Chinese rescue vessel, Snow Dragon, earlier came within 7 miles of the stranded ship, but turned back after it became clear the ice was too thick to penetrate. The French attempt couldn't get closer than that.
It is likely that a helicopter on the Chinese ship would be used to winch passengers out if the Australian ship failed to get through the ice, an AMSA spokeswoman said. In its latest update, the maritime authority said it was too dangerous to attempt a helicopter rescue at this time.
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The research team on board, led by Professor Chris Turney from the University of New South Wales, set out Dec. 8 on a mission to update scientific records on Antarctica made around a century ago by Douglas Mawson, an Australian explorer.
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Pack ice, solid sheets of ice up to several meters thick, is a major hazard for vessels navigating the harsh Antarctic climate, where temperatures can fall to below 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In 1985, the Nella Dan, an Australian research vessel, was trapped for 48 days in the Antarctic. A year later, the Southern Quest, carrying a British expedition, was crushed by ice and sank.
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More recently, in 2010 ice-breakers had to be used to free nearly 1,000 people whose ferry was among dozens of vessels trapped by ice in the Baltic Sea off Sweden's coast.
The remoteness of Antarctica means it can take aircraft longer to reach people in distress than to fly a jet from New York to London.