Kizevetter News

According to a Jan. 2 report from the ITAR-TASS News Agency, piloting operation of ice-stranded ships in the Sea of Okhotsk will start in the morning of January 4. Ice in the Sea of Okhotsk squeezed the Sodruzhestvo floating base, the research ship Professor Kizevetter and freezer trawler Bereg Nadezhdy. The icebreaker (Source: ITAR-TASS News Agency)

As the maritime industry seeks to expand its presence into Arctic waters, a report today from Russia may be cause for pause.According to an Itar-Tass report, more than 600 crewmembers are aboard the 10 vessels trapped in the ice in the Sea of Okhotsk. According to the news agency, distress signals have been received from the Sodruzhestvo fishing mother ship and the Professor Kizevetter scientific research vessel. All their attempts to get to the clear water have failed, the state sea rescue coordination center reported. The temperature in the area is 22 degrees below zero, and according to the forecast, it will fall lower. A distress stage and the rescue operation beginning have been declared in the region.