June 15, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1423

JOHANNESBURG, June 14: A South African ship will sail to the Antarctic in a bid to rescue 108 scientists and crew aboard the German vessel Magdalena Oldendorff, trapped in pack ice, a defence forces spokesman said Friday.

Colonel Piet Paxton told AFP the oceanographic research vessel Agulhas would leave from Cape Town on Sunday.

“A German cargo ship, chartered by a Russian research company, has got stuck in pack ice in the vicinity of the South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE),” Paxton said.

He said two South African air force Oryx (Puma) helicopters, fitted with long-range fuel tanks, were aboard the Agulhas, which has an ice-strengthened hull, and which was due to rendezvous with the Argentine ice-breaker Almirante Irizar near Gough Island in the south Atlantic.

“From there, the ships will try to go as deep into the pack ice as possible, with the Argentine ship trying to get as close as possible,” Paxton told AFP.

Richard Skinner, a deputy director in charge of Antarctic operations in South Africa’s department of environmental affairs, told AFP: “If the Almirante Irizar is able to reach the stricken vessel an attempt will be made to tow her into open water out of the pack ice.”

Skinner said the Magdalena Oldendorff, chartered for a re-supply voyage by the Russian Antarctic Programme, was trapped about 300 kilometres (180 miles) from the South African Antarctic base on Queen Maude Land.

Shipping sources told AFP in Auckland that the Magdalena Oldendorff, out of Hamburg, was believed to be trapped north of the Indian Maitra and the Russian Novolazarevskaya bases on Princess Astrid Coast, below South Africa.

Paxton said the 18,000-ton ship was trapped at longitude 0 degrees, 41 minutes east and latitude 69 degrees, 41 minutes south.

He said the helicopters would be used to take the scientists from the trapped vessel on to the ice-breaker and the Agulhas.

“But this time of the year it’s dark there (24 hours a day), and temperatures drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius (minus 122 degrees Fahrenheit), which basically makes this a night operation and flying extremely difficult,” Paxton said.

It was not clear how long the vessel had been trapped, but Paxton said those aboard were not in danger.

Magdalena Oldendorff is a large ice-strengthened ship built in 1983. When operating in the region it is equipped with New Zealand helicopter crews.

Its crew includes Russians, Germans, Filipinos, Moldavians and Indians. The ship could not be contacted via the Inmarsat telephone system.—AFP