Icebreakers piloting ships in Sea of Okhotsk pass hardest 10 miles

VLADIVOSTOK, January 17 (Itar-Tass) -- The Krasin and Admiral Makarov
icebreakers continue a rescue operation to pilot the Sodruzhestvo mother
ship and the Bereg Nadezhdy refrigerator ship from the ice trap in the Sea
of Okhotsk on Monday. The convoy has passed the hardest part of the way of
about ten nautical miles with the highest ice pressure over the past day.
Both vessels were piloted through this part of the way to the ice-free
waters despite the high winds up to 20 meters per second and the air
temperature up to minus 20 degrees Celsius, the chief press officer of the
Far Eastern shipping company Tatiana Kulikova told Itar-Tass.
The convoy will keep sailing northward to the safe area in the Sea of
Okhotsk, she said. The way may take another few days.
On December 31, several ice-trapped vessels gave the SOS signals in
the Sea of Okhotsk. These vessels are the Sodruzhestvo mother ship, the
Bereg Nadezhdy refrigerator ship, the Professor Kizevetter research vessel
and the Mys Elizavety trawler. Two vessels have already been piloted to
the safe sea area.