MOSCOW, January 2 (Itar-Tass) - The operation on piloting ice-stranded ships in the Sea of Okhotsk will start in the morning of January 4 when the second icebreaker comes to the place. This was made public on Sunday at a meeting, called by Transport Minister Igor Levitin.
Director of the sea and river transport department of the Transport Ministry Alexei Klyanin told the minister that the Magadan icebreaker was already in the zone of the three stranded vessels, but it cannot start their piloting on its own. “The Magadan is three kilometres away from the stranded boats. But it cannot come closer,” he said.
In turn, the captain of the second icebreaker – Admiral Makarov – reported Levitin by phone at the meeting that it would reach the place on January 4 in the morning.
“When the second icebreaker arrives, the piloting of ships will begin,” the transport minister noted.
Ice in the Sea of Okhotsk squeezed the Sodruzhestvo floating base, the research ship Professor Kizevetter and freezer trawler Bereg Nadezhdy. The icebreaker Magadan started approaching the stranded vessels this morning. It faces snow-covered pack ice two metres deep in some places.
The icebreaker Admiral Makarov sailed from the De-Kastri port, Khabarovsk Territory, to help the Magadan. It skirted the southern tip of Sakhalin Island at a speed of 13.5 knots, entered the Sea of Okhotsk and headed for the north.
The three vessels were captured by ice on December 30, staying 11 miles from the coast of the Khabarovsk Territory. Attempts by the ships on their own to reach ice-free waters failed to materialise. Therefore, rescue tugboats were dispatched initially to their assistance and then the icebreakers.
There is no threat to the lives of the ships’ crews, reported the State Marine Rescue Centre.