Stuck Snow Dragon fails to break free, crew safe
Print Edition
All crew and passengers aboard China’s icebreaker Xuelong, which has been trapped by heavy floes in Antarctica, are safe and making efforts to get out of trouble.
The team aboard Xuelong on China’s 30th scientific expedition mission to Antarctica convened a meeting yesterday, believing they would be able to break the siege after they airlifted passengers from another trapped Russian ship on Thursday.
All 101 people aboard Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, including crew members, scientists and journalists are taking various measures to handle the situation.
Xuelong was locked in a heavy floe area some 21 kilometers away from the nearest ice-free waters, but it has sufficient supplies, according to Xinhua reporters aboard the vessel.
In order to ensure the vessel’s safety, Xuelong has created a 1-km -long “ice-breaking runaway,” waiting for favorable weather conditions to break the siege.
Wang Jianzhong, captain of Xuelong, said that Xuelong has been surrounded by swiftly amassed floes due to strong winds in the past few days, with the thickest ice layer reaching 3 to 4 meters.
It is difficult for Xuelong to break the ice in such conditions with one iceberg ahead and another moving closer slowly from behind, Wang said.
To ensure its safety, the vessel will temporarily stay in the area and wait for things to improve.
Xuelong could get out of trouble as long as it breaks through the thickest floe zone some 2 nautical miles long, Wang said, but it is important for Xuelong to find an opportunity to sail through the area with rapidly drifting icebergs and floes.
China has set up a leading team to rescue Xuelong, the State Oceanic Administration said yesterday. The the team will map out rescue plans and make “all-out efforts” to coordinate rescue operations, it said.
Xuelong used its onboard chopper to evacuate all the 52 passengers on the Russian vessel Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been stranded since Christmas Eve, to the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis. However, Xuelong’s own movement was blocked by a 1-km-long iceberg which is drifting northwest. The massive flat-top iceberg drifting ahead is sometimes as close as 1.2 nautical miles to Xuelong.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the Chinese icebreaker’s attempt to manoeuvre through the ice early yesterday was unsuccessful.
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