1pm AEDT: 31st December 2013
Helicopter to rescue passengers from Russian vessel in Antarctica
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA) Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) was advised this morning by the Aurora Australis that the ship will not be able to reach the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.
The Aurora Australis advised RCC Australia it would be at risk of becoming beset by ice itself if it continued to make further rescue attempts.
The Aurora Australis made attempts yesterday to reach the MV Akademik Shokalskiy but was driven back into open waters due to adverse weather conditions such as winds up to 30 knots and snow showers resulting in poor visibility. The ship is currently located about 16 nautical miles east of the Russian vessel.
The helicopter on board the Chinese flagged vessel Xue Long will now be used to rescue the passengers from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.
This rescue will be a complex operation involving a number of steps and subject to factors such as weather.
The helicopter is unable to fly in the current weather conditions, and will hold off on the rescue until conditions improve. Weather conditions are unlikely to start improving until tomorrow and decisions related to carrying out the rescue may be made at short notice.
In preparation for the rescue, an area for the helicopter to land has been marked on the ice near the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.
RCC Australia has been advised that all 52 passengers will leave the MV Akademik Shokalskiy. All 22 crew members are expected to remain with the vessel.
The passengers are expected to be rescued by helicopter in groups of 12 and will be initially transported to the Xue Long. The Aurora Australis will then use its barge to transfer all 52 passengers on board their vessel. The barge can take up to 22 people at a time.
RCC Australia continues to coordinate the incident and is in regular contact with all vessels involved and continues to monitor the situation. The vessels involved are also in close contact with each other via VHF radio.
The search and rescue operation commenced on Christmas morning AEDT after the Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in the United Kingdom received a distress message via satellite from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy. The distress message and subsequent coordination of the incident was passed to RCC Australia, who is the responsible search and rescue authority for this area.
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Source: http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documents/31122013AkademikShokalskiyUpdate8_Media_Release.pdf
And now the Chinese icebreaker is reportedly stuck… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25558276
So, no helicopter rides. Walk, you b uggers, walk
There is a Green Senator – elect on the ship.
She is due to take up her Seat in the Federal Parliament next July.
The Abbot government will need to pay to rescue her
You can imagine the screams in the Australian Parliament from the Green and Labor Parties if something awful happens to her.
Tony Abbot will be called a murderer
Bill H and John Karajas,
I said it before; the scientists did not put the ship in a hazardous position, the Captain did that.
He will carry whatever can is passed to him, he sits behind the desk with the sign “The buck stops here” on it.
This vessel IS a private enterprise vessel, for charter (hire) on the open market to whoever is willing to pay the going rate to the owners. It is an additional misfortune for the Captain and the owners that the ship has been hired on this occasion by a bunch of clowns who thrive on self-generated publicity.
It is unfortunate that it is not compulsory for shipowners to carry insurance for their vessels, and I would guess that if this vessel is not insured then the costs involved in the various rescue missions will bankrupt the owners who will be responsible for the costs. I hope, however, that insurance costs might be part of the hire fee.
If the vessel does sink, the pollution from the fuel on board will be small and the oil will be consumed by natural organisms very quickly. (More environmental damage was done by the sterilising beaches cleanup after the Exxon Valdes spill than would have been caused by letting nature work on the residuals.) Any sewage spillage will be eclipsed by the excretions of the millions of fish, birds and mammals that live in the sea around Antarctica.
No matter what you think of the objects of the voyage or those who hired the ship, your thoughts should also be with the Captain who is in a very nasty situation, perhaps self inflicted, perhaps not, and who has no-one to turn to for help or advice – he is very much on his own.
As others have said: this rescue should not be funded by UK, US, Australian or any other taxpayers. The, so called, climate scientists were part funded by the BBC: a UK taxpayer funded broadcasting company. We in the UK have paid enough already.
Big question is: what kind of a `scientist` is Turney? What is his background and qualifications? His list of publications shows a wide range of topics AND mostly co-authoured by others.
jolan says:
December 31, 2013 at 12:54 am
The Black Night exactly parodys the situation the ‘warmists’ find themselves in. Are they ‘brave ‘ or just stupid to continue fighting the cause which is irredeemingly lost. They are in the ‘end’ game and won’t admit it.
H/T Mario Lento
++++++++++
I was trying my best not to be insensitive. But, you read me correctly, that it seems their doom is self caused – and they won’t stop until either they hurt more people or themselves through what to them appears to be a noble cause. But then again, I know of too many of them quite a bit less noble than the black night.
Let us not forget that this follows the debacle in the Northwest passage earlier this year.
When Prince Harry led the Walking with the Wounded charity walk to the South Pole a few weeks ago, it started out as a good-natured race between the different nations taking part. The organisers sensing trouble, just after the walk started, very sensibly decided that it was not going to be a race due to the poor weather conditions, so it became a collaboration. The walk was very successful and all credit to the disabled participants, it raised a lot of money for a worthwhile charity, and needed no third party intervention.
Compare that with what is currently happening on the same continent! There is no worthwhile cause, it has not been dealt with sensibly, not only has it not raised money, it has cost a small fortune with third parties risking their lives to rescue these clowns. No doubt the cost of insurance here in the UK will rise, because the ship will be lost due to the crushing effects of the ice.
I really hope these people survive without injury or worse, but I equally hope that they learn from this very expensive lesson!
@Oldseadog great perspective, thanks.
Oldseadog says:
December 31, 2013 at 3:04 am
++++++++++++
You make a lot of sense here. Still, there has to be some fault of the so called “Expert scientists” on for the ride they so chose. After all, their predictions are better than facts, and this could not have happened. The weather and sea ice were predicted not to be there. Who is the captain to trump this religion (do I have write sarc?)
“Meanwhile the US is still going to send its Polar Star 9,300 miles south to free the Chinese and Russian ships, instead of being available for Arctic Winter rescue.”
No actually the Polar Star left for the Antarctic around Dec 3rd to support the US base at McMurdo Station, a task it has done repeatedly in the past. It most definitely was not sent 9,300 miles to free the Chinese and Russia ships, although already being in the area it may be use for this task.
“I think that since a US ice breaker has now been taken from our seas which protect our people we deserve some very hard and fast answers.”
Except that is not the truth. It was sent to the Antarctic long before this situation developed and it would have been in the Antarctic whether this situation existed or not.
“If one of our sailors or fisherman die because we diminished our rescue capacity, the Guardian and the ships owners are very much liable for the litigation and subsequent judgments from those proceedings.”
We diminished our rescue capacity to support the US Antarctic base. So no the Guardian and the ships owners are not at all liable for any negative effects of a US Coast Guard decision made weeks before this incident.
David Chappell says:
December 31, 2013 at 2:39 am
“So, no helicopter rides. Walk, you buggers, walk”
The only thing more dangerous than walking across a glacier is walking across pack ice.
This stuff moves around vertically and horizontally in ways you would not believe making such an exercise slow motion suicide. Whilst the hull remains intact and does not breach below the ‘water line’ then staying on board is by far and away the best option. Airlift looks like the only option to get the numbers down to a manageable level and then the ones left on board are still very much at risk.
This is not over by a long way.
It would be interesting to find out the total cost for this fiasco and then find out the total science that has been done. What has been measured? Could it not have been measured by satellite? etc.
I smell junket rather than research.
Do they get to pay for the rescue?
Why are the crew being left behind? Surely it would be better to rescue the crew….and leave all the others behind.
Do not rush the rescue, let them sweat a bit.
Gerry, you write “Why are the crew being left behind?”
I am no lawyer, but my understanding is that, under international law, if the whole crew of a ship abandons that ship, it becomes a derelict, and anyone can board the ship, and claim it as their own.
so, the Aurora Australis describes the weather in that area as 30 knot winds with snow showers, and one of the climate thugs on the ship describes it as a ‘warm rain’? Who should we believe I ask?
At least it isn’t the Arctic, where polar bears forage. I doubt if any of the crew members have anything other than a flair gun.The sea ice is so thick that it wouldn’t take much for a few polar bears to go hunting on board.
What about the carbon footprint?
Ice breakers, helicopters …
I am so concerned.
/sarcoff
A deathly silence in the Australian media about the Guardian and BBC participation.
Sounds like another “Global Warming Plot” has turned turtle?
Already $1.5 million taxpayers money in venture. How much for rescue?
I wonder, when they all get home will these participants feel any obligation to finally STFU?
Or is there no embarrassment level capable of impacting their idiocy?
Abandon ship! Abandon ship! The bar has run out of booze. The horror! The horror!
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/31/helicopter-rescue-needed-for-passengers-on-icebound-ship/
Andrew Peacock, a doctor on board, said the passengers are frustrated but are trying to keep their spirits high with a New Year’s party they planned in the ship’s bar.
“We are preparing for evacuation to a dry ship so a few drinks seems reasonable, but we also have to be ready at a moment’s notice for the helicopter arrival so staying sober is important,” he told AFP.
The ship has two weeks’ worth of fresh food, but Peacock said drinks are becoming sparse, with “just enough alcohol left” to ring in 2014.
I wonder what the carbon footprint of this adventure is?
Externalities included. Like all of the media operations to cover it etc.
Everyone here commenting on it is contributing to it.
It must be a staggering amount . Like the equivalent of volcano of CO2.
Yep that’s the ticket.
“Alarmists Adventure Eruption dumps tons of CO2 pollution into atmosphere”.
Or something like that?
Steve, you write “Or is there no embarrassment level capable of impacting their idiocy?”
I am sure that there is no “embarrassment level”, which will force any member of The Team to say anything contrary to CAGW. But, to me, that is not the issue. Judith Curry had a thread on Climate Etc, recently, discussing the moral obligation of other scientists to speak up and not be silent. Surely, this ought to be an issue where this silent group of eminent scientists has a moral obligation to break their silence and speak out.