The Australian government’s resupply ship Aurora Australis making one final bid to free Russian research ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy was expected to reach the icebound ship yesterday at 11pm.
The Akademik is carrying 74 scientists, tourists and crew and has been marooned by heavy ice since Tuesday about 100 nautical miles (185km) east of the French Antarctic base Dumont d’Urville.
Two icebreaking ships have so far failed in attempts to reach it.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said its supply ship would make an assessment of whether it could break through the ice surrounding the Akademik.
“If the Aurora Australis is not capable of getting through the ice, then we will look at utilizing the helicopter on board the Chinese-flagged vessel [the Snow Dragon], which AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre [RCC] has tasked to remain in the vicinity,” an AMSA spokeswoman said.
The Snow Dragon’s helicopter did a reconnaissance flight over the site yesterday afternoon to determine the best approach route for the Australian icebreaker and returned with promising news.
“RCC Australia has been advised that ice conditions are improving,” the AMSA spokeswoman said.
The Australian icebreaker, which has the highest icebreaking rate of the three vessels initially sent to the Akademik’s rescue, can cut ice up to 1.6m thick, but the Akademik is estimated to be surrounded by thick ice of 3m or 4m.
Aurora Australis captain Murray Doyle said on Saturday that his vessel was not built to tackle ice thicker than 3m, likening it to driving a car into a brick wall.
Expedition co-leader Greg Mortimer said contingency plans if the Australian vessel couldn’t reach them “in the next few days” would be to evacuate the Akademik using the Snow Dragon’s helicopter to ferry passengers onto other ships to return home “via the Ross Sea or [Australia’s] Casey [Antarctic] base.”
The call to abandon icebreaking efforts in favor of an air rescue would be made by the ships’ captains, led by Doyle, he added.
“We’ll know I guess within 12 hours of the arrival of the Aurora Australis how that’s going to unfold, because if they arrive and the conditions are looking like the winds are going to be in our favor, we’ve got a lot more on our side,” Mortimer told the Guardian.
Prevailing south-easterly winds have compressed the ice, making it more difficult to break, and Doyle will be hoping for a westerly, which will ease pressure on the ice and boost cutting efforts.
He said the passengers would get off the ship, but “what form that takes I don’t know.”
Despite the uncertainty of their plight, the ship’s passengers were reported to be safe, well and in good spirits, with expedition co-leader Chris Turney and Guardian correspondent Alok Jha posting a jovial video online from the snowy deck.
“We’re still here, stuck at Cape de la Motte. Any passing ships do pay us a visit!” a fur-hatted Jha joked.
Passengers were passing their time by playing board games, watching films and taking walks on the ice to photograph passing penguins. Others recorded video messages to family anxious for news back home.
“Just saying hi to let you know we’re going to be a little bit late, the ship’s stuck in a lot of really really heavy ice and the Aurora Australis is coming in to get us,” Australian marine biologist Tracey Rogers said in a video update for her son and daughter.
The Snow Dragon came tantalizingly close on Saturday, getting to within 6.5 nautical miles (12km) of the passenger vessel before impenetrable ice forced it to turn back.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number