Antarctic Ship Rescue: ‘There’s A Lot Of Happy Faces’

A trapped cruise ship off the coast of Antarctica will hopefully be homeward bound after the Chinese ice-breaker “Snow Dragon” was sent to rescue it.

Chris Turney, the expedition leader on board the ship said: “There’s a lot of r lief among the team and a lot of happy faces.”

Unfortunately, the happy faces didn’t last long, as the Snow Dragon came within about seven miles of the cruise ship before its passage was blocked by very thick ice.

According to Alvin Stone, a spokesman for the expedition, the ice was simply too thick for the ship to penetrate. Another rescue vessel from Australia has also been sent to help out.

This vessel, the Aurora Australis, from the Australian Antarctic Division, should have more luck in rescuing the stranded ship due to the fact it has a higher ice-breaking rating.

Lisa Martin, a spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, said the Aurora Australis is due to arrive to assist with the Antarctic ship rescue on Sunday.

Alvin Stone said: “I think we’re probably looking at another 24 hours of twiddling our fingers and waiting for something to happen.”

The cruise ship is stranded about 1,500 miles south of Hobart, and became trapped in the ice on Christmas Eve, following a severe blizzard.

On Christmas day, Turney sent a Tweet informing people of the situation: “We’re in the ice like the explorers of old! All are well and spirits are high. Happy Christmas.”

Fortunately, the Antarctic ship is not considered to be in danger of sinking and there are more than enough supplies for the people on board.

The passengers include 74 scientists, a number of tourists, and the crew; it departed from New Zealand on November 28. Turney added: “The blizzard we had yesterday was quite extraordinary — it’s not nice when you can feel the ship shaking,” he said.