Antarctic helicopter rescue a success
Passengers trapped on Akademik
Shokalskiy since Christmas Eve safely evacuated to icebreaker ship
- Live Antarctic passengers rescued from ship
- Video: crew evacuated from stranded ship
- In pictures: Antarctic rescue gets under way
- theguardian.com,
A helicopter sent from the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long landed next to the trapped Akademik Shokalskiy on Thursday afternoon and the first group of passengers were evacuated shortly after 8pm local time (7am GMT). The passengers were taken off in five groups, with two further flights to pick up their baggage. Each flight took around 20 minutes each way.
Four expedition staff were the last to leave the trapped ship. The Russian crew who will remain aboard to free the ship when the ice around it breaks up – hopefully when there is a change in wind direction in a few days.
This picture, taken by the expedition doctor Andrew Peacock, shows a
helicopter from the Xue Long approach passengers from the Akademik
Shokalskiy. Photograph: Andrew Peacock/AFP/Getty Images
The original plan had been to take the passengers to the Xue Long,
but it was later decided to airlift them to an ice floe near the
icebreaker Aurora Australis, which had tried but failed to break through
to the trapped ship earlier this week.The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which has been co-ordinating the rescue tweeted: "Aurora Australis has advised AMSA that the 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy are now on board."
Expedition leader Prof Chris Turney tweeted: "We've made it to the Aurora australis safe & sound. A huge thanks to the Chinese & @AusAntarctic for all their hard work!"
The passengers were greeted on the Australian vessel with tea and coffee plus dinner. They will also have to get used to moving five time zones westwards because the Aurora australis is operating on west coast Australia time (Western Standard Time), rather than the New Zealand time zone.
Guardian journalist Alok Jha who is one of the evacuees tweeted "To the crew of Aurora Australis and Xue Long - heartfelt thanks from all on the Shokalskiy. We know how far out of your way you all went."
AMSA released a statement at 12.45 pm on Thursday saying the safest option was to do the rescue mission in one operation."AMSA understands that current sea ice conditions prevent the barge from Aurora Australis from reaching the Chinese vessel Xue Long (Snow Dragon) and a rescue may not be possible today," a spokeswoman said.
"The Xue Long's helicopter is unable to land on the Aurora Australis due to load rating restrictions. It is not safe to land the helicopter next to Aurora Australis at this time.
"The preferred and safest option at this stage is to ultimately transfer the passengers onto Aurora Australis."
Guardian journalist Alok Jha, who was on the Akademik Shokalskiy, earlier said the mood was subdued but optimistic and people had kept themselves busy. "If there is any anger/upset etc I haven't seen any," he said in an email.
"I imagine some people have had private moments of anxiety or frustration but there's no feeling of threat or any worry about danger. No one seems scared."
The Akademik Shokalskiy became stuck in thick pack ice on Christmas Eve and the Aurora Australis and Xue Long, which are both ice breakers, had to abandon attempts to reach the trapped ship.
An attempt on New Year's Day to evacuate the passengers by helicopter was also abandoned because of heavy rain, strong winds and cloud.
- COPY http://www.theguardian.com
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