[130111.EN.SEA] Worsening Weather Delays Russian Rescue In Okhotsk Sea

THE Sodruzhestvo, with 348 aboard, remains trapped in two-metre pack ice in the Sea of Okhotsk as worsening weather delays rescue by Russian icebreakers. 

"In the next two days, winds are predicted to strengthen and visibility to lower," said a spokeswoman for Russia's Far East Shipping Company.

The Sodruzhestvo was ice-bound with four other ships, carrying a total of more than 400 people, three of whom were later released by the Krasin and the Admiral Makarov icebreakers.

The Krasin arrived on Tuesday at the location where the Sodruzhestvo ship was stuck and currently trying to tow the vessel, the spokeswoman said. The distance between the trapped ship and open waters is 100 nautical miles, she added.

The Krasin and the Admiral Makarov were first to rescue the other ice-bound vessel, the Bereg Nadezhdy, a reefer ship, but plans were changed due to weather conditions. A course was then set to the Sodruzhestvo, after leaving the Bereg Nadezhdy and its 35 people in a safe area.

Rescuing the Sodruzhestvo was described as most difficult because the Admiral Makarov and the Krasin had to coordinate their efforts to clear a wide canal in the pack ice to allow the wide-bodied vessel to reach open waters.

Source : HKSG, 12.01.11.