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 Helicopter
rescue begins for passengers stuck in Antarctic ice
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[January 02, 2014]
By Maggie Lu Yueyang
SYDNEY (Reuters) — A Chinese helicopter
has reached a Russian ship stranded in Antarctica for nine days and is
beginning to pick up 52 passengers who spent Christmas and the New Year
trapped in ice, the expedition leader said on Thursday.
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 The helicopter from the Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon will take
all the passengers from the ice-bound Akademik Shokalskiy and
transfer them to an Australian Antarctic supply ship, the Aurora
Australis.
Chris Turney, the leader of the private expedition, said conditions
had improved enough to mount the rescue after days of blizzards, fog
and shifting sea ice.
"The Chinese helicopter has arrived @ the Shokalskiy. It's 100%
we're off! A huge thanks to all," Turney posted on Twitter.
Television pictures showed the helicopter checking out a makeshift
landing pad on the ice then apparently picking up the first group of
12 passengers.
The Russian ship left New Zealand on November 28 to commemorate the
100th anniversary of an Antarctic journey led by famed Australian
explorer Douglas Mawson.
It became trapped on Dec. 24, 100 nautical miles east of French
Antarctic station Dumont D'Urville and about 1,500 nautical miles
south of Australia's southern island state of Tasmania.
Everyone on board was believed to be in good condition and they were
never in any great danger.
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The Chinese ship got within sight of the Akademik Shokalskiy on
Saturday, but turned back after failing to break through the ice,
which was more than 3 meters (10 feet) thick in some place.
Two other vessels, Australia's Aurora Australis and a French flagged
ship, also tried to help but failed to reach the ship because of
strong wind and heavy snow.
Earlier on Thursday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority which
is coordinating the rescue, had said the rescue had again been
thwarted by ice and bad weather.
(Additional reporting by Lincoln Feast;
editing by Michael Perry and
Robert Birsel)
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