Google – AFP, 5 January 2014
 |
This photo
released by the Australian Antarctic Division on January 2, 2014
shows the
Chinese Antarctic vessel Xue Long (C) from the bridge of the Aurora
Australis
ship off Antarctica (Australian Antarctic Division/AFP/File,
Jessica
Fitzpatrick)
|
Sydney — US
icebreaker Polar Star was Sunday set to sail for the Antarctic to assist a
Russian vessel trapped in heavy ice and a Chinese ship which went to its aid,
officials said.
The
Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the US Coast Guard had accepted its
request to help the stranded Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy and Chinese
icebreaker Xue Long, which itself became trapped after using its helicopter to
ferry dozens of passengers to the safety of an Australian ship.
The Polar
Star, which is on a mission to clear a navigable channel to resupply McMurdo
Station research base, will depart from Sydney Sunday after taking on supplies,
it said in a statement.
The
122-metre (399-foot) ship is capable of continuously breaking ice up to 1.8
metres (six feet) while travelling at three knots and can break ice more than
six metres thick by ramming.
It is
expected to take seven days to reach Commonwealth Bay where the two ships are
trapped in ice.
"Our
highest priority is safety of life at sea, which is why we are assisting in
breaking a navigational path for both of these vessels," Vice Admiral Paul
Zukunft, US Coast Guard Pacific area commander, said in a statement.
The Xue
Long, or Snow Dragon, came tantalisingly close to cutting through heavy ice to
reach the Shokalskiy a week ago but had to abandon its attempt once it realised
it could not break through.
Chinese news
agency Xinhua, which has reporters onboard the Xue Long, said the ship's
passage had been blocked since Friday by a drifting, one-kilometre long
iceberg.
The
Shokalskiy remains stuck in ice 100 nautical miles from the French Antarctic
base of Dumont d'Urville with 22 crew on board.
The 22
scientists, 26 paying passengers and four journalists on board the Shokalskiy
who were helicoptered off the ship on Thursday are now on the Australian
Antarctic supply ship Aurora Australis.
The Aurora
Australis is now set to deliver supplies to Australia's Antarctic base Casey
before heading to the Australian city of Hobart.
Australian
authorities have said that any inquiry into how the Shokalskiy came to be
stranded would have to be conducted by Russian authorities but have
acknowledged that the incident could impact guidelines for polar expeditions.
The rescue
mission, which also initially involved the French ship the Astrolabe, has also
impacted some Antarctic research programmes, according to Yves Frenot, director
of the French Polar Institute.
The rescue
mission forced French scientists to scrap a two-week oceanographic campaign
using the Astrolabe, he said.
"But
we are relatively lucky. The Chinese have had to cancel all their scientific
programme, and my counterpart in Australia is spitting tacks with anger,
because their entire summer has been wiped out," he said.
The Aurora
was forced to suspend its resupply of the Australian base to rush to the aid of
the Shokalskiy, but authorities said it was not yet known what impact the
incident would have on scientific programmes.
The trip on
the Akademik Shokalskiy was aimed at emulating a 1911-1914 expedition by the
Australian explorer Sir Douglas Mawson.
The
scientists onboard, assisted by the passengers, were repeating century-old
measurements to discover the environmental changes taking place in the frozen
southern region.
 |
Akademik
Shokalskiy is now moving slowly though visibility is poor,
the captain says
|
Related Articles:
 |
An image of
the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong blocked by
thick sheets of sea ice, Jan. 3. (Photo/Xinhua)
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.