Stranded fishermen days away from Antarctic rescue

Stranded fishermen days away from Antarctic rescue

tvnz.co.nz

The crew of a stricken Russian fishing vessel stranded in Antarctica will have to wait at least four days before they can be helped from the ice.

The New Zealand Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCCNZ) has begun a deep sea rescue mission for the crew of the Sparta.

The ship issued a mayday call at 3am. It has 32 crew on board, 15 Russians, 16 Indonesians and 1 Ukrainian, and all are understood to be safe.

The 55 metre vessel is located near the ice shelf of Antarctica, 3704 km south east of New Zealand, and is confirmed to be taking on water.

Non-necessary crew have been evacuated off

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Doesn't sound good that the ship is taking on water. My thoughts and prayers are with the crew and their families. Four days is a long time to wait for help in Antarctica with no shelter. The logistics for the rescue make the situation tense as they have to find and navigate through areas with the least amount of ice to reach the ship. Glad the U.S. can give support.

tvnz.co.nz
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by sad_eyed_lady


I wonder where the non-necessary crew have been evacuated off the ship too??

Presumably if they can be evacuated then the rest can too should it actually be considered in danger of foundering.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


I'm assuming they are stuck fast in the ice and those not needed for saving the ship were put on the ice to make camp while the crew figures out how to stop it from leaking.

I wish the article at least mentioned why they made the distress call in the first place.

reply to post by sad_eyed_lady


I just watched the video attached to the article. They showed a map pinpointing the ship right on the Ross Ice Shelf. What the heck were they fishing for there?

And the pics of that ship tell me that boat needed some repairs before it headed out.

The NZ reporter was cute though.

:-)

reply to post by tsawyer2


Apparently it hit an iceberg while fishing for Antarctic Toothfish - another unsustainable fishery being plundered until it collapses - although this particular boat was "licenced" by an international commission that is supposed to regulate the industry down there.