Two ships have broken free from Antarctic ice after being stuck for days – the Russian research ship Akademik Shokalskiy and Chinese icebreaker Xue Long.
The Russian ship’s captain said a crack had appeared in the ice after a change in wind direction. Last week the Xue Long’s helicopter ferried 52 passengers from the stranded Russian ship to an Australian vessel. The Akademik Shokalskiy got stuck on 25 December. It has a Russian crew of 22. – BBC News. The ship carried scientists who were on a mission to study global warming.
