Christmas on Ice!
Passengers on a Russian polar expedition ship are getting a whiter Christmas than they probably wanted as their cruise ship spends Christmas stuck in the ice off Antarctica.
The MV Akademik Shokalskiy, with 74 people aboard, got trapped in the ice and is waiting for other ships with ice-breaking capabilities to reach it, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said Wednesday. A British rescue coordination center received a satellite distress signal on Christmas morning from the Russian-flagged ship and contacted the Australian authority which handles the Southern Ocean region where the vessel is stuck, an AMSA statement said.
It pinpointed the trapped ship’s location as being near Stillwell Island which is 100 nautical miles east of the French base Dumont D’Urville, about 1,500 nautical miles south of Hobart, Tasmania. Three icebreakers were headed to help the Russian vessel, the AMSA statement said, adding that none were expected to reach it before Friday.
The ship has a crew of 20 and the remainder are passengers or scientists performing scientific work during the cruise. According to reports, nobody is in present danger. Passengers are believed to have enough provisions to wait out their rescue. One passenger tweeted that all on board were fine and their “spirits high.” “We’re making the best possible use of our unscheduled stop to take extra measurements in the area and build on our scientific work program,” said climate scientist Chris Turney of the University of New South Wales. “We’re in the ice like explorers of old! All are well and spirits are high. Happy Christmas,” he continued.
The rescue attempt is too far from land to send aircraft or normal rescue vessels. Andrea Hayward-Maher of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said, “This is quite a complex and lengthy search-and-rescue operation because of the remote location of the area.” The ship cruised to the site of a 1911-1914 expedition of British explorer Sir Douglas Mawson according to Expeditions Online, a travel agency that sells tickets for the cruise.
cooperation is well received.