MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Russian cruise icebreaker is back in Ushuaia

A formidable vessel Kapitan Khlebnikov broke free on its own

The Russian ice-breaker cruise ship carrying 105 passengers, mostly British tourists, and 88 crew members and which broke free of Antarctic ice last Friday arrived Sunday to Ushuaia, Argentine Tierra del Fuego, announced the ship's operator.

The Argentine Coast Guard in Ushuaia reported that “all passengers and crewmembers are in good health and high spirits. The vessel suffered no kind of damage since it’s an icebreaker”.

The Kapitan Khlebnikov was trapped at the north-eastern extremity of the Antarctic Peninsula, next to Snow Hill Island, a landmark in the area. However no emergency was declared since the vessel has two helicopters on board and the vessel only had to wait for weather conditions to improve and work its way out.

The Maritime Bulletin, a Russian website specialising in shipping affairs, said there were 105 passengers aboard the vessel including members of a BBC television crew who were filming in the region.

“The Kapitan Khlebnikov ice-breaker with tourists on board broke free of the ice prison into clear water and is heading for Ushuaia” the Far Eastern Shipping Company said in a statement last Friday.

“The ice-breaker's captain Viktor Vasilyev brought the vessel through the most complicated area where ice was too compressed to allow movement. The captain's many years of experience allowed him to solve another challenge that uncompromising nature puts before man” the statement added.

Vyacheslav Naganyuk, director of the company’s icebreaker fleet said that passengers “are always warned about possible delays” because of navigational difficulties. “I’m sure they will never forget sailing under difficult conditions in the midst of the Antarctic splendour”.