All 52 passengers on the Shokalskiy were rescued and transferred to the Aurora Australis on Thursday

All 52 passengers on the Shokalskiy were rescued and transferred to the Aurora Australis on Thursday

(by Peter Cooney, Reuters) WASHINGTON – The United States is sending a heavy icebreaker to help free a Russian ship and a Chinese icebreaker gripped by Antarctic ice, the Coast Guard said on Saturday.

The Polar Star is responding to a request for assistance from Australian authorities as well as from the Russian and Chinese governments, it said in a statement.

“The U.S. Coast Guard stands ready to respond to Australia’s request,” Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander Vice Admiral Paul Zukunft said. “Our highest priority is safety of life at sea, which is why we are assisting in breaking a navigational path for both of these vessels.”

The Chinese vessel, Xue Long, has also become stuck in the ice

The Chinese vessel, Xue Long, has also become stuck in the ice

A Chinese icebreaker that helped rescue 52 passengers from a Russian ship stranded in Antarctic ice found itself stuck in heavy ice on Friday.

The Snow Dragon ferried the passengers from the stranded Russian ship [Akademik Shokalskiy] to an Australian icebreaker late on Thursday. It now had concerns about its own ability to move through heavy ice, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

The Russian-owned research ship left New Zealand on November 28 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of an Antarctic journey led by Australian explorer Douglas Mawson.

It became trapped on December 24, 100 nautical miles east of French Antarctic station Dumont d’Urville and about 1,500 nautical miles south of Tasmania.

During their time on the ice, passengers amused themselves with movies, classes in knot tying, languages, yoga and photography, and rang in the New Year with dinner, drinks and a song their adventure.

The Polar Star is 399 feet long with a maximum speed of 18 knots. It can continuously break 6 feet of ice at three knots, and can break 21 feet of ice backing and ramming, the Coast Guard said.

The cutter is cutting short its planned stop in Sydney to help with the mission.

Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from Thomson Reuters. Visit the website at Reuters .com.

Questions

1. What is the Polar Star? Be specific.

2. Why is the Polar Star being deployed to the Antartic?

3. Why is this rescue needed?

4. What was the purpose of the Akademik Shokalskiy’s journey?

5. Two weeks into a five-week excursion, climate change professor Chris Turney’s venture to retrace a 1912 research expedition in Antarctica and gauge how climate change has affected the continent saw its ship get trapped in ice. Those who disagree with the belief that catastrophic global warming is upon us and it is caused by man’s use of fossil fuels say this is the ultimate irony. What do you think?

Resources

Read about the U.S. Coast Guard’s Polar Star icebreaker at:  uscg.mil/pacarea/cgcpolarstar/history.asp.

Watch a news report:

From BBC News:
image1228

Get Free Answers

Daily “Answers” emails are provided for Daily News Articles, Tuesday’s World Events and Friday’s News Quiz.