Missing yacht crew alive, battling ice
Moscow, April 7: A Russian- Ukrainian sailing crew that went missing on a historic expedition around the South Pole is alive and made contact on Saturday as it battled through Antarctic ice with its fuel running low.
The ambitious eightstrong team on the Scorpius yacht did not make contact earlier this week as gale- force winds slowed its progress. But the captain said in an email that the crew was in good health, the expedition’s spokeswoman Anna Subbotina said. “They contacted us with an email last night. The ice conditions were very severe, and currently they are going toward the mainland because they are running out of fuel and other supplies,” she said.
The 29- metre yacht was cut off from communication for several days after water damaged its satellite antennae during a storm on the way to Deception Island. Currently the crew has fuel for only two- and- ahalf days, and has decided to sail towards the Chilean mainland by circumventing the South Shetlands. “They are forcing their way through the ice, travelling very slowly,” she said. But the team appears to be in good spirits and nobody has been hurt, she added. “They are not asking for help,” she said.
The Scorpius — a sleek white steel yacht built in 1991 in the Netherlands — left on its 130,000 kilometre voyage hoping to set a number of sailing records and restoring Russia’s pride on the seas.
— AFP