A Nice News Story for the New Year :)
I read/watch the News a lot, from different sources to obtain different perspectives. It can be very interesting, but also typically pretty grim, filled with Natural Disasters, War, Crime and Human Suffering...
So it is all the more refreshing and uplifting to see a nice story of international cooperation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25572503
A summary of events thus far:
A Russian ship, "Academik Shokalskiy", chartered by the 2013 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, sailed to Eastern Antarctica with over 50 scientists and tourists from all across the world, in addition to around 20 crewmen.
On Christmas Eve, the Academik Shokalskiy became trapped in thick ice. The ship thankfully had plenty of provisions, but obviously required assistance.
A Chinese icebreaker, the "Snow Dragon" was in the vicinity, and was the first to respond. But despite making visual contact, the ice, around 6m deep, was too much for the Snow Dragon, which was in serious danger of becoming trapped itself.
An Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, thus also joined the rescue effort, and is about to, or perhaps already has, rendezvoused with the Snow Dragon.
The plan now is for the Snow Dragon's helicopter to rescue the people aboard the Academik Shokalskiy and transfer them to the Aurora Australis and presumably take them back to civilisation.
The backup plan is the US icebreaker, the "Polar Star", a much larger and more powerful vessel, about 7-10 days away, which should be able carve a path to the Russian ship and finally free it.
China, the US and Russia working together! That's gonna be pretty important for peace and stability in the 21st Century!
So it is all the more refreshing and uplifting to see a nice story of international cooperation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25572503
A summary of events thus far:
A Russian ship, "Academik Shokalskiy", chartered by the 2013 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, sailed to Eastern Antarctica with over 50 scientists and tourists from all across the world, in addition to around 20 crewmen.
On Christmas Eve, the Academik Shokalskiy became trapped in thick ice. The ship thankfully had plenty of provisions, but obviously required assistance.
A Chinese icebreaker, the "Snow Dragon" was in the vicinity, and was the first to respond. But despite making visual contact, the ice, around 6m deep, was too much for the Snow Dragon, which was in serious danger of becoming trapped itself.
An Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, thus also joined the rescue effort, and is about to, or perhaps already has, rendezvoused with the Snow Dragon.
The plan now is for the Snow Dragon's helicopter to rescue the people aboard the Academik Shokalskiy and transfer them to the Aurora Australis and presumably take them back to civilisation.
The backup plan is the US icebreaker, the "Polar Star", a much larger and more powerful vessel, about 7-10 days away, which should be able carve a path to the Russian ship and finally free it.
China, the US and Russia working together! That's gonna be pretty important for peace and stability in the 21st Century!
Post edited by Heindrich on
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