Helicopter Rescue Begins for Stranded Antarctic Ship

Dozens of passengers aboard a Russian research ship stuck for over a week in the Antarctic ice are being evacuated Thursday, after a rescue helicopter finally was able to land nearby.

Video posted on Twitter by Chris Turney, one of the scientists on the ship, showed a Chinese helicopter carrying passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been stranded since Christmas Eve.

Fifty-two passengers - including scientists, tourists, and journalists - are waiting to board the helicopter, 12 at a time. They will be carried to an Australian icebreaker ship, which they will then take on a weeks-long journey to land.

Blizzard conditions hampered previous attempts to evacuate the passengers by helicopter. Icebreaker ships from China, Australia, and France had also failed to reach the Russian vessel.

Seventy-four people are on board the Akademik Shokalskiy, which has weeks of supplies and is in no danger of sinking. Most of the 22-member Russian crew are expected to stay behind and wait for the ice to break up naturally.

The Russian ship, which left New Zealand on November 28, was trying to recreate Australian explorer Douglas Mawson's century-old voyage to Antarctica.

*Images courtesy of Liam Quinn and John Lester  via Flickr: CC license 2.0) and
*Original story: Voice of America via Google News (search term: Google News)