MOSCOW, January 14 (Itar-Tass) — The Admiral Makarov and Krasin icebreakers, which are leading the Sodruzhestvo mother ship out of an ice trap in the Sea of Okhotsk, have reached the drifting refrigerator ship Bereg Nadezhdy, a source at the Transport Ministry told Itar-Tass.
“The convoy of the Admiral Makarov, the Krasin and the Sodruzhestvo reached the drifting Bereg Nadezhdy at 10:30 a.m. Moscow time on Friday,” he said.
The Admiral Makarov cleared a two-mile strip in the afternoon and returned to the convoy. “The coordinating staff led by Deputy Transport Minister Viktor Olersky is analyzing weather and ice conditions for elaborating the tactics of the further operation,” the source said.
The ships need to cross the ice for meeting with the Magadan icebreaker and the Victoria tanker.
A number of ships trapped in the ice in the Sea of Okhotsk, among them the Sodruzhestvo, the Bereg Nadezhdy, the Professor Kizevetter research ship and the Mys Yelizavety trawler, asked for help on December 31, 2010. Two vessels were taken to a safe area.
It is yet unknown when the rescue of the Sodruzhestvo and the Bereg Nadezhdy may be over, as weathermen have a bad forecast for about one week.
Posts Tagged ‘Sodruzhestvo’
Slow progress in the Sea of Okhotsk – but progress
January 15, 2011Sea of Okhotsk rescue operations restarted
January 14, 2011
Depths in Sea of Okhotsk: Image via Wikipedia
The suspended rescue operation of the trapped ships in the Sea of Okhotsk has restarted and is progressing slowly in deteriorating weather and increasing ice.
From Ria Novosti:07:45 14/01/2011
Russia’s Krasin and Admiral Makarov icebreakers continue to lead the Sodruzhestvo mother fishery ship through thick ice floe to clear waters, the Far Eastern Shipping Company said Friday.
The fishing ship with about 300 people on board has been stranded in heavy ice in the Sea of Okhotsk for two weeks. The Admiral Makarov and Krasin started towing the vessel on Wednesday afternoon, but towing ropes snapped soon after the start of the operation. The rescue resumed on Thursday morning.
“The convoy has covered 17 miles since the beginning of the rescue operation, and will reach the Bereg Nadezdy refrigerator ship after another eight miles,” spokeswoman Tatyana Kulikova said. “After the meeting with the refrigerator, they will face a very difficult stretch of ice floe before reaching clear waters.”
According to the rescue plan, the icebreakers will continue towing the Sodruzhestvo, while the Bereg Nadezhdy will attempt to sail on its own along the channel cut in the ice by Admiral Makarov and Krasin.
The weather conditions in the area continue to deteriorate rapidly. Strong winds, low visibility and shifting ice floes hamper the rescue effort, the spokeswoman said.
Photographs from the Sea of Okhotsk can be seen here:
http://en.rian.ru/photolents/20110111/162101793.html
and here:
http://english.ruvr.ru/photoalbum/39338590/39338722/index.html
Related: https://ktwop.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/unusually-thick-ice-traps-ships-in-the-sea-of-okhotsk/
Sea of Okhotsk rescue update: Tartar Straits frozen to the bottom
January 11, 2011Little news is coming out of Russia where icebreakers are battling to rescue the ships trapped in the Sea of Okhotsk. It all seems to be going much slower than hoped for and bringing the Sodruzhestvo out is clearly posing some challenges.
The icebreakers Krasin and Admiral Makarov have escorted the Bereg Nadezhdy refrigerator ship to ice-free water in the Sea of Okhotsk and now are heading to rescue the Sodruzhestvo floating base still trapped in the ice, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Transport told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
“Taking into account weather forecasts, it has been decided to leave the Bereg Nadezhdy refrigerator ship in a safe sea area and send the Krasin and Admiral Makarov icebreakers to the Sodruzhestvo floating base to help it get out of ice and reach the area where the Bereg Nadezhdy is waiting,” the spokesman said, adding that the move would cut back on the length of the rescue operation. The Sodruzhestvo remains trapped in ice. It has fuel and foodstuffs enough for 75 days. Experts believe that it will be harder to take it out to clear waters because its hull is wider than that of an icebreaker. The Krasin icebreaker is expected to widen the canal for the ship’s passage.
artar Straits: graphic Wikimedia
The Tartar Straits is reported to be frozen right down to its bottom for the first time in many years. The ice field in the Sea of Okhotsk is also reported to have grown from 25km wide to 45 km wide.
“The ice has hit the bottom and the ice field is spreading northwards. The icebreakers have broken through two big floes and are facing another one. After the icebreakers get the Sodruzhestvo base to the area, where they left the Bereg Nadezhdy, the four ships will proceed to a loose ice area in a single caravan. The Magadan icebreaker and a tanker ship are waiting for them there”.
The k2p blog 