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Russian Fishing Vessel Stranded Near Antarctica, Rescue Ships Still Days Away

Dec. 18, 2011 7:02pm Christopher Santarelli

Russian Fishing Ship Stranded Near Antarctica

(The Blaze/AP) A Russian fishing ship traveling near Antarctica hit underwater ice Friday, tearing a 1-foot hole in the hull, causing it to list at 13 degrees and begin leaking. The 32 man crew has made progress in stabilizing the vessel, but rescue ships are blocked by heavy sea ice and still several days away. Al Jazeera English reports:

A plane dropped supplies of equipment and fuel on ice next to The Sparta Saturday. BBC News reports that the vessel is about 2,000 nautical miles south-east of New Zealand.

Maritime New Zealand, which is coordinating rescue attempts, said Saturday that the crew had pumped water from the vessel overnight and moved cargo around, making the boat safer and more stable.

Crew members who had donned emergency suits and boarded life rafts were now back aboard the Sparta, the agency said. The crew members were making patches that they would attach to the hole in the hull if they can get the ship upright, said Chris Wilson, who was coordinating the rescue mission for Maritime New Zealand on Saturday.

“It’s a very remote, unforgiving environment,” said Andrew Wright to the Associated Press. Wright is the executive secretary of the Australian-based Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which has licensed the Sparta to catch toothfish in the Southern Ocean.

The 157-foot-long Sparta sent a distress call early Friday. Maritime New Zealand said heavy ice in the Southern Ocean would make it difficult for other ships to reach the vessel.

Russian Fishing Ship Stranded Near Antarctica

The Sparta’s sister ship Chiyo Maru No. 3 was heading toward the stricken vessel but had no capacity to cut through sea ice, the agency said. A New Zealand vessel, the San Aspiring, had some ice-cutting ability and was also en route, but was still three to four days away on Saturday. A third vessel was much closer, but was hemmed in by heavy ice and unable to move toward the Sparta.

The crew’s emergency immersion suits can keep them alive for a time in freezing water, Maritime New Zealand said.

The crew is made up of 15 Russians, 16 Indonesians and one Ukrainian, the agency said.

The weather in the area was calm Saturday, with temperatures a relatively mild 37 degrees Fahrenheit. According to BBC News, the ice surrounding the ship is estimated to be up to 1.5m thick.

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Comments (48)

FORLORNHOPE
Posted on December 19, 2011 at 11:37am
Some times you can take on water into the engineroom losing your generator or electronics in which case they could have a back-up generator. They have dropped fuel down to them, so they must have a generator running. They probably have heat. They also have food so as along as the vessel does not take on more water they will be fine.

The boat looks to be a long line fishing vessel. America is the best county in the world for replenishing our fishing grounds even greenpeace has given up on protesting our fisheries. We have a quota system that is monitored by observers who gather data on everything you can imagine and then some. Fish is a renewable source of protein, America is the best in the world at keeping from over fishing… Much the same way that hunters protect the game stock they hunt from being over hunted. What are Russians, Japanese, Chinese doing down there is; after destroying their own fishing grounds they are now going into international waters and over fishing there as well.

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Back To Reality
Posted on December 19, 2011 at 11:20am
Al Jazeera? That was the best source you could find for this story?

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- Tifn8r
  Posted on December 19, 2011 at 12:40pm
  Thank You! – Why are we getting info from Al Jazeera now? And BBC isn’t much better. I suppose on inane stories like this they’re okay as sources, but it only builds their credibility in people’s minds.
  
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- ACLUHater
  Posted on December 19, 2011 at 1:37pm
  I thought it was all melted because of American SUV’s?
  
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the point
Posted on December 19, 2011 at 9:31am
I don’t believe a word of it . Al Gore said that the ice has all melted. Don’t you believe him ?? Gore is a Dem and they are never wrong .

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AnAmerican111
Posted on December 19, 2011 at 9:30am
Com’on!
Globel warming!….just wait a couple days- ice will be gone!
Al “the earth has a headache” told us so!

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wiseworks
Posted on December 19, 2011 at 8:35am
For those of you from the post 1970 American education system, the fishing vessel is in Antartica because that is where the fish are. Thanks to our global friends in Japan, China, etc. that will kill anything that someone says will give them an erection, that is one of the few places left where fishing is reletively profitable. Why else would the whales hunt food there? For the rest that believe that everything Russian belongs to their government, Paul Harvey hit the nail on the head 20 years ago when he stated, “America and Russia are passing each other in opposite directions.” Russian society is almost a better place now than American society. They are dismantling their concentration camps as we build ours. They are allowing more free enterprise as we kill ours. That fishing boat is probably as entrepreneurial as most shrimp boats here. This ain’t your grandpa’s war, Russian does not equal Boris Badenov any more.

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budzy1911
Posted on December 19, 2011 at 7:54am
If Al Gore has taught us anything all you have to do is wait a day or two – global warming will melt the ice.

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poverty.sucks
Posted on December 19, 2011 at 12:24am
In an attempt to save Polar Bears, the stranded shall become prey.

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- SchiffRadiodotcom
  Posted on December 19, 2011 at 3:12am
  It’s a fishing boat
  
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- smithclar3nc3
  Posted on December 19, 2011 at 7:14am
  since when does sea ice block air rescues.
  
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bhosux
Posted on December 19, 2011 at 12:16am
Maybe their good Chinese friends will save them…..right!

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80mesh
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 11:16pm
C’mon youz guyz … they are there to save the whales …. in a big freezer some where ;-)

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 10:55pm
Hope these fishermen are rescued soon. They have loved ones at home, waiting for them.

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Impenitent
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 9:28pm
they can always barbecue the dancing penguins…

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- Anamah
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 10:06pm
  They have enough with their fish.
  
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ddg7
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 9:19pm
Based on Al Gore’s predictions of melting snowcaps these guys are going to need SPF 50 and some Corona’s and lime.

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- WAR PIGS CRAWLING
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 10:37pm
  Hahahahaha……that’s good…
  
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OlefromMN
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 9:10pm
Alright,

So a plane drops food to tide them over until help arrives? “A plane dropped supplies of equipment and fuel on ice next to The Sparta Saturday. BBC News reports that the vessel is about 2,000 nautical miles south-east of New Zealand.” Why not send a chopper to pluck them off the ship?

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- 13th Imam
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 9:26pm
  Why don’t the Russians send one of their Warship’s to the rescue?? Oh Yeah, they are all rusting in harbor. .
  
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- wolverine
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 9:35pm
  You have be joking, the USA might be able to have the assets to do a chopper rescue but I doubt if anybody else does
  
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- OlefromMN
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 11:40pm
  @Wolverine
  
  In the time that has expired from my first post, the US could have had a chopper on site. Life moves fast.
  
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- babylonvi
  Posted on December 19, 2011 at 5:06am
  Sorry, 13, Russia has more and better ice breakers than any other country….and is building more.
  
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SilentReader
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 9:09pm
It said Russian fishing vessel. It didn’t say the Russians were fishing.

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- lukerw
  Posted on December 19, 2011 at 9:37am
  Why go there… unless the Government ordered it?
  
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Californiasodbuster
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 8:57pm
Im sure they have enough Stoly on board to melt a passageway out of their predicament, or light their farts for heat, until help comes.

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barber2
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 8:24pm
If you want a great read about the human spirit, read about Ernest Shackleton’s voyage on the Endurance. Simply amazing tale of true endurance…

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- Californiasodbuster
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 8:47pm
  Or ship of gold, amazing story of survival back in 1857.
  
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godhatesacoward
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 8:22pm
WTH is up with a russian f/v fishing in antartic waters? Is there something I should know about a new penquin market?

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bulletsinthegun
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 8:14pm
Fishing my ass, Thes men could be home by helicopter if it wasn’t a spy ship. go down with the ship or destroy if possible

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- wolverine
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 9:37pm
  Would you please explain what they are spying on penquins and whales
  
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- AxelPhantom
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 10:42pm
  We actually have a research lab there (“we” as in the US military) my Aunt spent a year there in the 80′s running scientific experiments. So who knows what the Russians could be doing?
  
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possom
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:47pm
These last three storie’s are almost a week old! Somebody dropping the ball or what?

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- babylonvi
  Posted on December 19, 2011 at 5:09am
  Blaze is becoming a HUFFPO clone. Notice how stories are continuously shuffled back up the list rather than “newest at top” as any LOGICAL blog would have them?
  
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BBEV
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:27pm
For the friends that I have lost and those that where saved my these men fined safe harbor to fish another day.

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Captain Crunch
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:25pm
Why are they all the way downthere fishing. Seems like a mighty long way to go fishing.

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AmeriCat
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:21pm
Russian “fishing vessel”…….or spy ship.

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- RepubliCorp
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 11:40pm
  we should send them some ice as a juster of good will…..
  
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randy
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:19pm
Ohhhhh Underwater ice, The ship hit underwater ice. SO that’s where all the ice is going….
Darn you Al Gore!

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- Jomil48
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:33pm
  @Randy, take a close look at the photo, the boat is surrounded by ice, and if they don’t get it out soon, it will be frozen in. This is a dangerous situatuion for these men.
  
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- LeeroyJenkins
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:46pm
  jomil it is a risk they were willing to take to fish. free will causes free consequences.
  
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- Jomil48
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:54pm
  @Leeroy, your right leeroy, that is a risk that they took, and they have to deal with it consequences.
  
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- Eliasim
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 10:06pm
  Jomil48,
  Yes it is a dangerous situation, and that’s probably why they should have never been there to begin with. Let em pay the piper, and not with my tax dollars.
  
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- Eliasim
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 10:09pm
  Release the Kraken to drag the ship down to Davey Jone’s locker.
  
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- Brad Brzezinski
  Posted on December 18, 2011 at 10:52pm
  @Jomil48 “if they don’t get it out soon, it will be frozen in.”
  
  Antarctica is headed into summer and the sea ice can be expected to start breaking up any time. As long as they can stay afloat they should be OK. On the other hand, Antarctica is a dangerous place and one always needs a backup plan. E.g. many of the ship-supplied the teams that overwinter there take a 2 year supply in case they can’t be reached.
  
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Jenny Lind
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:16pm
I hope they have some burnable material, no matter what country, sailors are a tough lot and they have to be. Hope they make it.

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Jomil48
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:10pm
Geez, everybody knows there is no ice in the Artic, just ask any libreral. Remember, the polar bears are drowning there.

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