TOMSK, September 6. /TASS/. Russian voyagers Stanislav Beryozkin and Yevgeny Kovalevsky intend to continue their trip around the world after it was interrupted when sharks attacked their inflatable catamaran in Pacific Ocean waters off of Australia, Yulia Kalyuzhnaya, head of the expedition’s onshore headquarters, told TASS.
Earlier, Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority rescued the two Russian sailors and French crew member Vincent Beaujeu in the Coral Sea as their catamaran began sinking after it was attacked and destroyed by sharks. The three travelers were two-thirds the way into their round-the-world expedition as part of an international project under the auspices of the Tomsk branch of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS). While the sailors were not hurt in the shark attack, they had to abandon their vessel in the ocean.
"We will continue the expedition. I am flying off to Australia right now. We need to sort out a number of issues, including how to continue that [expedition]," said Kalyuzhnaya, who is also RGS Tomsk’s executive director. "We have some bandana kits, a calendar, maps and medicines left, and we must deliver these items under a previous plan that will have to be expedited now," she added. According to Kalyuzhnaya, despite the loss of the catamaran, the team has not lost its winning spirit. "We are moving on," she said, adding that it might take up to a couple of months before the sailors can continue with their voyage.
The two Siberian adventurers, Beryozkin and Kovalevsky, began their round-the-world voyage on July 1, 2021. The expedition was designed to replicate the routes taken by the first Russian mariners to circumnavigate the globe in the early 19th century, including Admiral Ivan Kruzenshtern, and cover approximately 35,000 nautical miles. The team lost its initial vessel, a trimaran, on February 28 while attempting to traverse the Pacific Ocean.