RCCNZ coordinates southern ocean rescue (2)

Two fishing vessels are making their way towards the stricken Russian boat Sparta, but are not expected to reach the area for four to five days.

The 55m vessel, Sparta, with 32 crew on board, issued a distress call around 3am from a position next to the Antarctic ice shelf, in the Ross Sea, about 2000 nautical miles (3704 kilometres) south east of New Zealand.

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) has confirmed the ship is taking on water and currently has a 13 degree list.

All of the crew, made up of 15 Russians, 16 Indonesians and 1 Ukrainian, are understood to be safe. The crew is pumping water out of the holds and discharging cargo onto the ice to lighten the ship.

Some of the crew have been offloaded onto the ice, as a precautionary measure.

RCCNZ search and rescue mission coordinator Ramon Davis said RCCNZ had contacted a number of vessels operating in the southern ocean, but heavy sea ice was making vessel movement difficult.

Sparta’s sister ship, Chiyo Maru no. 3, is making its way towards the stricken vessel. However, Chiyo Maru no. 3 is about 290 nautical miles (NM) away and has no ice classification, meaning no capacity to cut or break through sea ice.

The New Zealand vessel San Aspiring, which has some capacity to move through ice, is also making its way towards Sparta. San Aspiring is currently 470 NM from Sparta and at its current speed is expected to reach the vessel in 4-5 days.

A third vessel is only 19 NM away, but is hemmed in by heavy ice and unable to proceed towards Sparta.

Mr Davis said a Hercules aircraft from McMurdo Station was in the air and expected to reach Sparta around midday. The aircraft would not be able to rescue any of the crew, but it would assess the ice conditions and help identify options for speeding up the rescue effort, if possible.

There were no helicopters which could undertake a rescue in the area and the best option to assist Sparta was identifying a nearby vessel which could come to its aid.

“We have contacted a number of vessels,” Mr Davis said.

Mr Davis said RCCNZ was continuing to contact vessels in the southern ocean to see if there were any others with ice capability that could assist.

“We are working to find a way to speed the rescue up, but it is possible the crew will have a fairly long wait for rescue,” Mr Davis said.

“We have confirmed the crew has immersion suits on board and other resources which will assist them to survive if they have to abandon the ship.”

The weather in the area currently is calm and about 3 degrees Centigrade.