UPDATE: So much for that…
Sea ice conditions are now likely to delay today’s planned rescue of passengers from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy. http://t.co/snGYZnqmNM
— AMSA News (@AMSA_News) January 2, 2014
And now it is apparently on again
AMSA is awaiting confirmation that the Antarctica rescue operation has begun.
— AMSA News (@AMSA_News) January 2, 2014
See video below.
Aurora Australis has advised AMSA that the 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy are now on board.
— AMSA News (@AMSA_News) January 2, 2014
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_13rQBXKa0A
7.30am AEDT: 2nd January 2014
Rescue operations likely to commence shortly in Antarctica
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA) Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) was advised this morning by the MV Akademik Shokalskiy that weather conditions have improved in the area and rescue operations are likely to commence shortly by helicopter.
Wind in the area is now down to 10 knots and visibility has improved. Weather conditions are expected to remain favourable over the next 36 hours.
The helicopter on board the Chinese flagged vessel Xue Long will 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.
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 will be rescued by helicopter in groups of 12 and will be initially transported to the Xue Long. The rescue is expected to be undertaken in a total of seven flights. The first five flights will rescue passengers and the remaining two flights will transfer luggage and equipment.
Each return flight is expected to take about 45 minutes. The journey will cover a distance of about 12 nautical miles between the MV Akademik Shokalskiy and the Xue Long. The helicopter component of the rescue operation is expected to take at least five hours dependent on weather conditions.
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. The journey between the Xue Long and the Aurora Australis is a distance of about two nautical miles.
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.
Media Note: Media are advised to keep an eye on AMSA’s Twitter feed @AMSA_News for the latest information relating to this rescue. Details for facilitating audio grabs and vision will be issued in due course.
Click to access 02012014AkademikShokalskiyUpdate9_Media_Release.pdf
The latest pic of the Aurora shows it still in thick ice, doesn’t it need to be in open water to start the rescue as well as the Xue ?
Now comes the dicey part. Hope it all goes well.
THEN… a few someones need a good chewing out by the many that were put out saving their @ur momisugly$$es, all while being handed the tab for the rescue. It has not been cheap.
I wish the crew well.
They can model until 2100 AD but they can’t model December 2013?
Let us hope all goes well. Ships and equipment can be replaced, human life not so easily. Maybe the “scientists” on the stranded ship learned something, we can only hope.
Me too.
Expensive, dangerous and should never have been necessary.
But it is necessary. So let’s just be quiet and wait and pray that things do go well.
The jokes won’t be funny if this goes South.
Two flights for luggage is two flights too many
They would get more sympathy, if they would admit that they were wrong. Then, I could empathize. As it is, it seems that they haven’t learned anything, just wasted a pile of money.
Antarctica rescue still on hold – Bad weather stops evacuation
http://iceagenow.info/2014/01/antarctica-rescue-hold-bad-weather-stops-evacuation/
That answers a question I had earlier; luggage and equipment will be the last to be transported.
I wish them good luck.
.
I hope it does not end like this:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2011-12/09/c_131297030.htm
Policycritic says:
January 1, 2014 at 2:19 pm
“They can model until 2100 AD but they can’t model December 2013?”
Well if I were them I would invent something about different predictability between high frequency and low frequency events, claim that there is no energy exchange between hi and lo frequency and hope noone notices that weather is a nonlinear system in which such energy exchange is the norm, not the exception.
The up to date position of the Xue Long can be obtained from this website. http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/home#
Jack Hydrazine says:
January 1, 2014 at 2:32 pm
> Antarctica rescue still on hold – Bad weather stops evacuation
That sounds like old news. Fog for three days? Perhaps it lifted recently. That URL says:
“Watt Bay, near the Mertz Glacier, has been shrouded in low-hanging fog for the past three days, which has prevented helicopters from flying because without a horizion pilots find it difficult to distinguish between ice floes and clouds.
“Crew from the (icebreaker) Aurora Australis and a Chinese icebreaker are on standby to begin rescue operations as soon as the fog lifts.
The helicopter can’t fly over open water because it doesn’t have floats. Heavy fog still making ice horizon invisible.
The “tourists”, including faux scientists, owe the Russian crew a huge debt of thanks. Not to mention the crews of the various icebreakers that attempted to pull their sorry butts from the icefield.
It’ll be interesting to watch how much credit the rescue-ees give to the crew, and how much attention and support they extend during the coming weeks until the Russian vessel is free from the sea ice.
How gracious will the Green Party politician be?
How remorseful will Chris Turley be? Will he acknowledge responsibility for a poorly planned expedition that risked so many lives and so much property?
Will this activist crowd immediately offer to compensate the numerous hard-working folk/agencies that came to their rescue?
I’ll just hold my breath for the moment.
The irony story is now reaching the MSM. This mornings print edition of the Australian has an 3 pieces including an editorial and excellent coverage in a feature by Graham Lloyd:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/an-icy-blast-of-scepticism/story-e6frg6z6-1226793315257#
Ah, for a webcam to watch the mad scrambling to be first on the first flight out of there. Or will Turney simply “pull rank”?
I hope those last two flights weren’t planned specifically to “rescue” luggage. OTOH, if they’re just taking advantage of trips already planned to bring supplies to the crew remaining on the ship, then fine… so long as the passengers still get the fuel bill for the luggage-bearing portion of the flights.
The oblivious will twist themselves into pretzels just to maintain the illusion of their belief system … that it was just a localized fluke of wind and wave that drove the melting ice to surround and trap their vessel. And while lives are risked to rescue them from their folly, they keep on sending out cutesy videos to be played out on local newscasts around the world.
Anthony,
JoNova has posted that the Chinese icebreaker is now stuck and that they won’t use the helicopter. Not sure if this is because they need some control of ship to launch it (wind speed for lift?) or just because it makes no sense to move people from one stuck ship to another.
Not sure if your post or JoNova’s is more recent.
The occupants of the Ship of Fools don’t seem to comprehend that people are risking their lives to save them.
Typical of progs — it’s all about them, and their hubris blinds them to the fact that they are almost universally viewed as buffoons.
omnologos says: @ur momisugly January 1, 2014 at 2:25 pm
Two flights for luggage is two flights too many
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Boy do I agree with you there!
Unless the conditions are EXTREMELY favorable the stuff should be left behind.
I wonder if the “two flights to transfer luggage and equipment.” Are just pablum to shut up the whinging of the prima donnas on the ship. The stuff can always be left behind at the last minute because it is not “safe” and the white lie saves the crew the headache of separating Muffy from the case of whatever she just has to have because of the weight limits of the helicopter.
Let me re-phrase the irony for ya shall I.
Why didn’t they insist on a solar powered helicopter? What about a wind turbine powered helicopter? Corn fed helicopter? Why didn’t they board a SAILING BOAT like in the olden days? I can go on and on ridiculing these concerned people who feel we must act now. What if we did act now and said NO RESCUE due to co2 output. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. / end rant.
The Snow Dragon is stopped at 0 knots, at least 2 kilometers from the ice edge where she was originally trying to hammer through to the A.S., days ago.