Stranded Antarctica Passengers Finally Reach Dry Land

52 scientists and tourists reach Australia four weeks after being marooned

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Fifty-two scientists and tourists who were marooned on a Russian ship in Antarctic sea ice for a week in December finally made it to Australian shores Wednesday.

The passengers were first rescued from the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy by a Chinese icebreaker, and were then ferried to an Australian icebreaker on Jan. 2 that brought them to solid ground, the Associated Press reports. An American vessel that set out to aid the stranded ship didn’t arrive in time to help.

The expedition’s leader, Chris Turney, said lawyers and insurers were negotiating rescue costs with the four nations who helped out.

The ship was on a research mission that intended to compare new scientific measurements of the ice with measurements made a century ago when it became marooned in Commonwealth Bay on Christmas Eve.

[AP]