According to CNN, after being stranded for 10 days, 52 passengers from a ship stuck in ice in the Antarctic have now been transferred by helicopter to an Australian icebreaker. On January 2, a helicopter from a nearby Chinese icebreaker ferried passengers to the Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis.
Chris Turney, an Australian professor among the research team stranded on the ship, posted videos on Twitter showing the helicopter arriving on a makeshift helipad on the ice and taking off into the sky. “It’s 100% we’re off! A huge thanks to all,” tweeted Turney.
The rescue began Christmas Eve after the MV Akademik Shokalskiy became stuck in unusually thick ice in the Antarctic. Officials abandoned other rescue attempts because of the treacherous conditions of the region.
It will still be weeks before the research team makes it to the Australian port of Hobart, stated John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. “Mid-January is our best guess,” Young told reporters.
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Source: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/antarctica-ship-stuck/index.html?hpt=wo_c1