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Australian ice-breaker ready to come to the Academician Shokalsky’s rescue

Chinese ice-breaker, Snow Dragon, had failed to break through the ice and is now lying approximately 7 miles away from the Academician Shokalsky

© EPA/AUSTRALIAN MARITIME SAFETY AUTHORITY

SYDNEY, December 29, 5:08 /ITAR-TASS/. The ice-stranded Russian research vessel, the Academician Shokalsky, is waiting for an Australian ice-breaker Aurora Australis, which is due to arrive at around 14:00 Moscow time on Sunday, the Russian ship’s captain, Igor Kiselyov, told Itar-Tass by telephone.

Kiselyov said that the Chinese ice-breaker, Xue Long (Snow Dragon), had failed to break through the ice and was now lying approximately 7 miles away from the Academician Shokalsky.

“I would like to suggest its captain to use a helicopter to fly over the territory and draw an ice map. The thing is that the accuracy of satellite photos is approximately 3-5 miles. But we need more accurate information,” the Russian captain said.

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