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Ferry service in Vladivostok halted due to ice situation

Local people have to hope for warming and wind changing that will clear the area of ice

VLADIVOSTOK, February 2 (Itar-Tass) —— Ferry service between Vladivostok and the settlement of Podnozhye on Russky Island was halted on Thursday due to the complicated ice situation.

The ice cover near the settlement is a metre thick. An icebreaker cannot be used to clear the way because the channel leading to the pier is not deep and wide enough, the city administration press service told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

Podnozhye is a settlement of a few hundred people.

Ferry service to other residential sites of Russky and Popov Island continues operating, but with difficulties. Heavy icebreaking-class ferries hardly move across 60-70-cm-thick ice. It takes them several hours to reach the other shore.

Local people have to hope for warming and wind changing that will clear the area of ice, a city administration source said.

There was no other such long period of frosts of up to 20 degrees below zero for two months as this winter in Vladivostok in many years. The January average temperature in the Primorsky Territory's capital was seven-nine degrees lower than usual. Frosts are accompanied by constantly blowing north winds of up to 20 m/sec. All the water areas near Vladivostok are covered with ice, including the usually clear Zolotoi Rog Bay.

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