American vessel the Polar Star, the US Coast Guard's only active heavy polar icebreaker, is heading to the Antarctic to rescue over 120 crewmembers aboard Russian and Chinese ships trapped in heavy sea ice.
According to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue
Coordination Centre (AMSA), it should take the Polar Star about
seven days to reach Commonwealth Bay, depending on weather
conditions.
The 122-meter US icebreaker canceled its planned stop in Sydney
after it received a request Friday from Australia, Russia and
China to help the Russian and Chinese ships, who fear they may be
unable to free themselves from the ice.
According to an AMSA spokeswoman, the US ship has greater
icebreaking capacity than the Russian and Chinese vessels.
"It can break ice over six meters thick, while those vessels
can break 1-meter ice," she told Australian Associated Press
on Sunday.
"The idea is to break them out, but they will make a decision
once they arrive on scene on the best way to do this."
The 22 crewmembers aboard the Akademik Shokalsky and the 101 crew
aboard the Xue Long (Snow Dragon), which had earlier rescued the
Russian ship’s passengers with the help of a helicopter, are
currently said to be in no immediate danger, and have plenty of
supplies. According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, which
has reporters on board the Xue Long, the vessel is currently
surrounded by ice of up to four meters thick and is 21 kilometers
from open sea.
The Russian research ship Akademik Shokalsky, with 74 scientists,
tourists and crewmembers on board, got stuck in a blizzard of up
to 70-kilometers-per-hour winds hemmed the sea ice in around, and
has been trapped in Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve. The ship
has been on a privately-funded research expedition to Antarctica
to retrace the footsteps of an Australian geologist who explored
the Antarctic a century ago; the voyage was to visit Douglas
Mawson’s Antarctic huts, which previously couldn’t be accessed
because of an iceberg.
Three icebreakers – Australian, Chinese and French – have so far
been unsuccessfully trying to reach the Russian ship since
December 25.
The 166-meter Xue Long, which finally came to its rescue,
reported Friday that it had also become stuck nearby. The Xue
Long's movement has been blocked by a drifting kilometer-long
iceberg, which constantly changed position and at times came as
closely as 1.2 nautical miles (about 2.2 kilometers) to the ship,
according to Xinhua reporters aboard.
Despite bad weather conditions late Thursday, the Chinese ship's
helicopter had managed to retrieve from the Akademik Shokalskiy
52 scientists, journalists and tourists and helped ferry stranded
passengers to an Australian icebreaker the Aurora Australis.
After the Xue Long reported it was stuck, AMSA told the Aurora to
stay in the area with its rescued passengers on board, in case
help was needed. Under international conventions, ships' crews
are obliged to take part in such rescues and the owners bear the
costs. The captains of both the Shokalsky and Xue Long agreed
they don’t need further help from the Australian icebreaker as
they would “provide mutual support to each other,” AMSA reported.
On Saturday, AMSA allowed the Aurora to continue, because the
Chinese and Russian ships were safe.
It's now hoped that the Polar Star, with a crew of 140 people,
could reach Commonwealth Bay and rescue the two trapped vessels
by the end of next week.
"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," US Coast Guard Pacific Area commander Vice
Adm. Paul Zukunft said in a statement, adding they were ready to
render assistance "in one of the most remote and harsh
environments on the face of the globe."
The Polar Star left its homeport of Seattle in early December to
take part in one of its key missions, Operation Deep Freeze, to
break a channel through the sea ice of McMurdo Sound to resupply
and refuel the US Antarctic Program's McMurdo Station on Ross
Island. That mission will now have to be postponed, however.
Coast Guard chief warrant officer Allyson Conroy said the Polar
Star's rescue operation could take up to three days.
"You're looking at the Antarctic, which is a challenge in
itself. You have weather and you have ice," Conroy told
Reuters. "But our crews are very well trained and we expect
to be successful in this mission."