Russian icebreakers set out to aid a group of Russian seamen whose ship is trapped in ice. The two ice breakers had to leave a refrigeration vessel, in a safer part of the Okhotsk Sea and turn back to rescue the much larger fishing vessel.
The icebreaker ships Krasin and Admiral Makarov resumed efforts to tug the Coast of Hope mother ship to ice-free waters, which were suspended due to the tow rope breaking on Wednesday.
Rescue operations are expected to resume Thursday after repair of the towing mechanism that was damaged when the tow rope broke. The Admiral Makarov is busy breaking a channel through thick ice, while The Krasin is towing the sea platform away from the ice trap.
The convoy will sail 100 miles to an area where the earlier released Coast of Hope refrigerator ship awaits. After that, all four vessels will keep moving to safe waters to meet with a fuel tanker.
One weather report indicated conditions with a temperature as low as – 9 F and winds of 55 mph.