Argentina ice-breaker Almirante Irizar continues its voyage to site of Russian polar explorers' ice captivity

It will take the Argentine ice-breaker Almirante Irizar ten days to meet the South-African ship Agalas which is going to help the Russian polar explorers. The Almirante left Buenos Aires port the day before and is now maintaining the cruise speed of 14 knots (the maximum speed is 17.2 knots).

The ice-breaker was built at the shipyard in Helsinki 24 years ago specially for supplying the Argentine polar stations with what they need and for making research voyages on its own. Up to 200 people can easily spend a polar winter aboard it.

The Almirante surmounts up to 1-metre-thick ice floes. If need be, it must help the South-African vessel Agalas approach the Magdalena Oldendorf with the Russian polar explorers on board, which is standing in the ice, with a view to beginning the evacuation of the explorers and a part of the crew by air. And in fortunate circumstances, it can lead the German craft itself out of the Antarctic captivity.