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A woman stands on the deck of Australia's Antarctic supply ship, the Aurora Australis, as the Xue Long (Snow Dragon) Chinese icebreaker is seen in the distance sitting in an ice pack, unable to get through to the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, in East Antarctica, some 100 nautical miles (185 km) east of French Antarctic station Dumont D'Urville and about 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km) south of Hobart, Tasmania, Jan 2, 2014, in this handout courtesy of Fairfax's Australian Antarctic Division. A planned helicopter rescue of 52 passengers on the Russian Akademik Shokalskiy ship stranded in Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve was delayed on Thursday due to unfavourable sea ice conditions in the area. The helicopter on the Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon had planned to lift passengers from the trapped Akademik Shokalskiy on Thursday and then use a barge to transport them to the nearby Aurora Australis, Australia's Antarctic supply ship. Picture taken Jan 2, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]
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ABOARD XUELONG - Chinese helicopter
Xueying 12 on board the icebreaker
Xuelong has embarked on its second flight Thursday to transfer part of the passengers aboard a Russian vessel stuck in sea ice off Antarctica to an Australian rescue ship, said a Xinhua reporter aboard
Xuelong.
The flight was taken after a first one that examined the conditions around the stranded ship to prepare for the landing of the helicopter on ice.
