The deputy director of the Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, says the vessel will use the channel to pick up as much speed as possible in order to free itself from the ice.
The team, which has enough water to last them a month, is now waiting for favorable weather conditions.
The Xue Long became trapped in ice after helping in the rescue of passengers of a Russian research ship. On Sunday morning, the US sent its own icebreaker, the Polar Star, to assist Xue Long and the Russian vessel.
cntv.cn
6/1/14
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Related:
Antarctique: le brise-glace chinois est parvenu à s'extraire de la banquise....
ReplyDeleteLe brise-glace chinois piégé par la banquise dans l'Antarctique est parvenu à se dégager, a rapporté mardi un média officiel, tandis que les passagers d'un navire russe qu'il avait secourus devaient rallier une base de recherche australienne.
Le Xue Long ("Dragon des neiges"), qui se trouvait bloqué depuis vendredi après avoir porté assistance à un bâtiment russe lui-même immobilisé par les glaces, s'est "déjà libéré" et s'est frayé un chemin jusqu'à des eaux où il pouvait naviguer librement, a annoncé l'agence Chine nouvelle.
Un expert météorologue, Zhang Lin, cité plus tôt mardi par le quotidien China Daily, avait estimé que le Xue Long bénéficiait, en raison d'un vent d'ouest attendu dans la zone où il se trouvait, d'"une fenêtre relativement courte" lui permettant de se dégager.
De son côté, un brise-glace des garde-côtes américains, le Polar Star, est en route vers la zone pour tenter d'ouvrir un chenal aux marins et scientifiques bloqués...........http://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_antarctique-le-brise-glace-chinois-est-parvenu-a-s-extraire-de-la-banquise?id=8170750
7/1/13
Antarctic break: Russian, Chinese stranded ships navigate out of ice trap...
ReplyDeleteA Russian-built ship stranded in the Antarctic ice has started moving away from the ice fields after a change of wind cleared its path. A Chinese icebreaker, which was caught herself on the way to rescue the vessel, has already reached clear waters.
The ‘Akademik Shokalskiy’ research ship, which left the port of Bluff in New Zealand on December 8 with 52 passengers and 22 crew members onboard, got stuck in Antarctic ice on December 24. Chinese, Australian and French icebreakers tried to rescue her, but none of them managed, and the Chinese vessel herself got stuck.
The passengers on the vessel were evacuated last Thursday by helicopter to the Australian Aurora Australis, while crew members stayed behind.
Luckily, as the weather changed the danger threatening the trapped vessels decreased.
“The situation is favorable now. First, the wind changed direction from an Easterly to a North-Westerly, which changed the direction of ice drift. A large crack formed in the ice, and the ship is now navigating it,” Yury Volgov, director of the Far-Eastern Hydrometeorology Research Institute, which owns the Academician Shokalsky, told media.
The ship may escape the clutches of the ice field quite soon, ship captain Igor Kiselyov said.
“We are sailing at low speed, changing courses. We’ve traveled 20 miles so far. It’s difficult so far, with dense fog and visibility no further than 500 meters. But the ice is thinner and broken here, so we’re moving,” he said. .................http://rt.com/news/antarctic-ice-trap-freed-274/
7/1/14
Akademik Shokalsky reaches open water....They are expected to arrive at New Zealand's port of Bluff early on January 14....
ReplyDeleteSYDNEY, January 08, 13:56 /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian research ship Akademik Shokalsky has finally got out of the ice and reached open water, chief mate Nikolai Velichko told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
"We reached open water at about 18:20 ship time (about 09:20 Moscow time), he said.
The ship was sailing at 11 knots. There was fog, no wind, and visibility was within two miles. The vessel was moving carefully with only one engine working, as icebergs were detected with locators, the mate noted.
They are expected to arrive at New Zealand's port of Bluff early on January 14.
The Chinese icebreaker also safely left the ice area, passed the Russian ship and sailed north at 15 knots, the mate added.
The Akademik Shokalsky, which was trapped in Antarctic ice for two weeks, finally has got out of the ice captivity and was "confidently moving to open water", the ship's captain Igor Kiselyov told Itar-Tass earlier on Wednesday.
The Chinese icebreaker, which participated in the rescue operation and also was blocked in the ice, has also safely got out of the ice trap and sailed north, the Russian captain said.
He added he had contacted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, informed the service about the situation and thanked for the help.
As the Russian and Chinese ships need no help any more, the American icebreaker Polar Star, which was on the way to help them, has returned back to its route toward an Antarctic station.
The Akademik Shokalsky crew are safe and well. The people feel great, the captain noted.
The Russian ship with 74 people aboard -- 22 Russian crewmembers and 52 passengers, a group of Australian Antarctic expedition researchers and accompanying travelers -- got stuck in the ice on the night to December 25. The ship was only one mile short of the open water, Kiselyov said. However, the strong southeastern wind caused formation of thick ice, which blocked the vessel and extended tens of miles from it.
The Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon and the Australian ship Aurora Australis rushed to help, but both failed to reach the Akademik Shokalsky. Ultimately, the decision was taken on January 2 to evacuate passengers with the use of the Chinese helicopter that was aboard the icebreaker. All the researchers and travelers and scientific equipment were evacuated to the Australian icebreaker. The Akademik Shokalsky crew remained aboard their ship. The same day, the Chinese icebreaker also got stuck in the ice. After the wind changed to western on January 7, the ice field began cracking. Both ships' captains used the favourable situation to move out of the ice.
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/713920
8/1/14