Poor visibility halts rescue of ship frozen in Antarctic

Australian icebreaker struggling to reach a scientific expedition ship stranded off Antarctica hampered by gusty snow showers.

This image taken by passenger Andrew Peacock shows the ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy still stuck in the ice off East Antarctica, as it waits to be rescued. Andrew Peacock / Footloose Photography via AFP

SYDNEY // Gusty snow showers which hampered visibility have forced back an Australian icebreaker struggling to reach a scientific expedition ship stranded off Antarctica, and also prevented a helicopter rescue.

The Aurora Australis made it to within 10 nautical miles of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which is stuck in an ice field, before retreating in the face of freezing winds and snow showers.

“The area where the MV Akademik Shokalskiy is beset by ice and is currently experiencing winds of up to 30 knots and snow showers,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said on Monday.

“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 MV Akademik Shokalskiy.”

The authority said further rescue attempts could be made once the weather improved and the Australian vessel was now in open waters about 18 nautical miles east of the trapped Russian ship.

Australia’s rescue coordination centre is in regular contact with the ship, which is carrying 74 people – including scientists, tourists and crew – and has been stationary 100 nautical miles east of the French base Dumont D’Urville since December 24.

Its passengers, who had been following in the footsteps of the Australian Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1911-1914 expedition, remain safe and well on their well-provisioned vessel, the safety authority said.

Three icebreakers including the Aurora Australis were called to help free the Russian vessel. The first attempt, by a Chinese-flagged vessel, was unable to break through the ice while a third vessel was released from the rescue, leaving hopes pinned on the Australian icebreaker.

Authorities had hoped that a helicopter on board the Chinese-flagged vessel, which remains in the area, would be able to evacuate the passengers if the Aurora Australis was unsuccessful.

But the safety authority said the weather made it unsafe to attempt to launch the helicopter.

Chris Turney, one of the leaders of the scientific expedition, said via Skype from the stranded ship that those on board were in good spirits and wanted their families and friends to know they were safe and well.

“It’s Antarctica, we are just taking it one day at a time,” he said, adding that Monday’s failed rescue had been hampered by very poor visibility as much as the ice.

“The conditions are so extreme in Antarctica, you just never know. We are always hopeful.”

Mr Turney, who is professor of climate change at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said satellite images indicated that their vessel had become stuck in ice which had broken away from a glacier.

The fierce winds had pushed it into an area of normally open sea, blocking the ship’s progress, and this ice was now three to four metres thick in some places, although in others there were gaps with no ice.

“It’s an unusual event that’s happened,” he said. “We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

* Agence France-Presse