January 2, 2014 -- Updated 1347 GMT (2147 HKT)
After 10 days stranded far from home, all 52 passengers from a ship
stuck in Antarctic ice have now been transferred by helicopter to an
Australian icebreaker. FULL STORY
Top World Stories
- Ex-Israeli PM Sharon in critical condition
- 2 dead in Brotherhood clashes in Egypt
-
Dubai blasts old firework record
- Musharraf hospitalized just before his trial
- Double car bomb attack in Somalia
-
Crop circles get mowed down
- Kim praises North Korea execution
- Schumacher in stable condition after skiing accident
- Palestinian diplomat injured in explosion in Prague
- U.S.: Agreement to implement Iran nuclear deal near
All 52 passengers rescued from ship trapped in Antarctic ice
January 2, 2014 -- Updated 1252 GMT (2052 HKT)
Rescue begins on Antarctic ship
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Chief mate: Passengers are very happy now to be on the Australian icebreaker
- NEW: He thanks Chinese icebreaker crew whose helicopter ferried 52 to safety
- "It's 100% we're off! A huge thanks to all," a professor on the ship tweets
- 22 Russian crew members are still on board the trapped ship, the MV Akademik Shokalskiy
"It's 100% we're off! A
huge thanks to all," tweeted Chris Turney, an Australian professor among
the group of scientists, journalists and tourists marooned on the ship.
A helicopter from a nearby Chinese icebreaker ferried passengers Thursday to the Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis.
The rescue is the latest
chapter in a saga that began Christmas Eve after the Russian-flagged MV
Akademik Shokalskiy got stuck in unusually thick ice.
Officials abandoned a succession of other rescue attempts in recent days because of the treacherous conditions in the region.
High spirits stuck in Antarctic ice
Antarctic expedition photos found
Earlier Thursday,
Australian authorities had said a plan involving the helicopter and a
barge was put on hold because of shifting ice conditions.
But the new approach,
which skipped the use of the barge, got under way later in the day.
Turney posted videos showing the helicopter arriving on a makeshift
helipad on the ice near the trapped ship and taking off into the crisp
blue sky.
Robert Darvill, chief
mate on the Aurora Australis, told CNN that the 52 new passengers on
board were very happy to be there and kept thanking the icebreaker's
crew for their efforts.
"They are on their second dinner of the night right now," he said.
Long journey ahead
It will still be weeks
before the research team makes it to the Australian port of Hobart, said
John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
"Mid-January is our best
guess," Young told reporters on a conference call. The Aurora Australis
is still expected to complete a resupply mission to Casey Station, an
Australian base in Antarctica, before making its way to Hobart.
Darvill said that now
all the passengers are on the Aurora Australis, the vessel will try to
move out of the heavy pack ice and into more open water.
But, he said, they will
not set off toward Casey Station until the Rescue Coordination Center of
Australia gives them the green light.
Darvill also thanked the captain of the Chinese icebreaker whose help made the rescue possible.
"Thank you very much for
your cooperation. Your crew has done the lion's share of the work and
made Australia and much of the world proud," he said.
Meanwhile, the master of
the Akademik Shokalskiy has decided to keep the 22 Russian crew members
on board the stranded ship until the pack ice eventually breaks up and
allows it to move again, Young said.
The vessel has enough supplies to keep the crew going for "a very long time," he said.
The helicopter rescue
followed a failed attempt by the Chinese icebreaker, the Xue Long, which
made it 6 nautical miles from the trapped vessel before being stopped
by especially thick ice.
That was followed by an
effort by the Australian icebreaker, which was forced Monday to suspend
efforts to reach the expedition because of bad weather. The Aurora
Australis got within 10 nautical miles of the ship before it turned
back.
Over the weekend, the maritime agency called off an effort by the French icebreaker Astrolabe.
Viral sensations
The exploits of the
research crew have gone viral, thanks in large part to Twitter and
YouTube posts by those aboard the stranded vessel.
Turney, the leader of a
research expedition on the Akademik Shokalskiy, has tweeted photos of
the stranded ship, the crew and penguins, which have stopped by to check
out their new neighbors.
The group even managed to ring in 2014 with good cheer.
"We're the A, A, E who
have traveled far, having fun doing science in Antarctica!" a dozen or
so of them sang in a video posted on YouTube. "Lots of snow and lots of
ice, lots of penguins, which are very, very nice!
"Really good food and company, but a bloody great shame we are still stuck here! Ice core, cha cha cha! Ice core, cha cha cha!"
The expedition
Turney's expedition to gauge the effects of climate change on the region began on November 27.
The second and current
leg of the trip started on December 8 and was scheduled to conclude with
a return to New Zealand on Saturday.
The vessel got stuck in the ice 15 days after setting out on the second leg.
Turney, a climate change
professor at the University of New South Wales, has said the ship was
surrounded by ice up to nearly 10 feet (3 meters) thick.
CNN's Elizabeth Joyce, Kevin Wang, April Ma, Chelsea J. Carter and Talia Kayali contributed to this report. COPY http://edition.cnn.com/
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário