Another 24 to get off ice-bound ship?

The S.A. Agalas rescue ship's helicopters are expected to remove another 24 from the Magdalena Oldendorf, ice-bound in the Antarctic, reports Vladimir Kuchin, second in charge of the Russian expedition stranded with the German ship.

The two Agalas copters have made a flight each to take a total 24 from the Magdalena. Every two-way flight takes four hours--too long for a short winter day.

Aircraft crews have small hope for work tomorrow with bad weather forecast.

Reinforced against ice, the Magdalena Oldendorf belonged to the Russian Far Eastern shipping office before it sold the vessel abroad in the 1980s.

On its current voyage, the Magdalena is carrying a new team of 74 researchers of the 47th Russian antarctic expedition, with a total 107 on board.

Russian antarctic research teams usually reach destination on board the Academician Fedorov, vessel of the same type as the Magdalena. Owned by the St. Petersburg-based Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the Fedorov is being overhauled in a German wharf, so another, similar ship had to be hired for the expedition.