By Daily Mail Reporter and Reuters Reporter The United States is sending a heavy icebreaker to help free a Russian ship and a Chinese icebreaker gripped by Antarctic ice, the Coast Guard said on Saturday. The Polar Star is responding to a request for assistance from Australian authorities as well as from the Russian and Chinese governments, the Coast Guard statement said. ‘The U.S. Coast Guard stands ready to respond to Australia's request,’ Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander Vice Admiral Paul Zukunft said. ‘Our highest priority is safety of life at sea, which is why we are assisting in breaking a navigational path for both of these vessels.’
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US is sending icebreaker, Polar Star, to help Russian ship, MV Akademik Schokalskiy, and Chinese icebreaker, Snow Dragon
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They are stuck in thick ice sheet 1,500 nautical miles south of Hobart, the Tasmanian capital
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US is responding to request for assistance from Australian authorities and the Russian and Chinese governments
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Snow Dragon's helicopter airlifted 52 passengers from MV Akademik Schokalskiy to Australian ship, Aurora, on Thursday
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Passengers expect to arrive in Tasmania by mid-January
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22 crew members remain on stricken Russian vessel
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Chris Turney, climate scientist and expedition leader, one of the 52 passengers, planned to document 'environmental changes' at the pole
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The trip was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of an Antarctic journey led by Australian explorer Douglas Mawson
A helicopter from the Snow Dragon ferried the passengers from the stranded Russian ship to an @placeholder icebreaker late on Thursday.
Sea ice was preventing the barge from reaching the Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, so the passengers are instead being taken to an nice floe next to an Australian vessel which will eventually take them to @placeholder